Letters

Martyrs and Morons

Regarding Stephen Lemons’ article “The Devils’ Advocates” [September 5–11]: Has it ever occurred to any of you stupid morons — and I am referring to the author of this totally one-sided article, and all the so-called “artists” supporting this cause — that these three blameless, long-suffering martyrs might actually be guilty of this horrendous crime? I saw both HBO documentaries, and came away with the sneaking suspicion that not only were the filmmakers doing their darnedest to implicate good old-fashioned, down-home folk (read: stupid oafs), but that they had decided — as has Lemons — from the get-go that it is much more commercially feasible (and interesting!) to paint the probable perpetrators of this atrocity as a species of gentle, misunderstood Wiccans, or whatever the fuck. Misskelley’s confession — as anybody with half a brain who has seen these films would note — was thoroughly damning. The fact that a person is mentally handicapped does not necessarily prevent him from telling the truth. As a matter of fact, it probably helps somewhat — as the clever and conniving Echols might agree.

Let me share a little story with your gullible readers: A friend of mine was incarcerated for cocaine possession for two years in the hell-slot next to lovable Tex Watson — surely a standup guy! Good old Tex converted to Christianity and is always spouting the word of the Lord. (Surely had he been convicted of performing unlawful C-sections in the current milieu he would have chosen Buddhism — much more hip, eh?) My friend told me Tex came across as a perfect gentleman — the only thing is that his breath smelled like shit. I’ll leave it to your enlightened audience to ponder the implications of such a dilemma.

—Steve Lindeman Toluca Lake

The Happiest Time Warp on Earth

Considering how well-written the L.A. Weeklyusually is, I was very surprised to see how ancient the details were in the “Keepers of the Magic Kingdom” story [September 5–11]. Couldn’t the paper have asked the writer to spend 20 to 22 minutes (the average length of a Disney show) to update the details?

Why talk about looking at the construction site of a ride that has been open for several months (Winnie-the-Pooh)? You missed some great opportunities to talk about the low quality of Winnie-the-Pooh versus [the rides in] Florida and Japan (any obsessive would tell you about it). Why didn’t the reporter visit the construction site of Tower of Terror (opening 2004), the revamp of Space Mountain (not open until 2005) and the Aladdin show (nicely done) that replaced Blast (great show)?

I understand that you hold stories until there is space. Next time, update them a little before they hit the street.

—Ryan Balas West Los Angeles

With respect to the story about the folks who visit Disneyland several times a week: It sounds like most of them have Asperger’s syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism, characterized by one or more obsessive interests. Many fit the “absent-minded professor” stereotype. If the public had a greater awareness of Asperger’s syndrome, it would be easier to understand people who visit Disneyland daily to ride Indiana Jones, as well as Trekkies and folks with other obsessions.

—Beth Tiggelaar Grapevine, Texas

Oh Say, You Can’t See

Yeah! Love the way I now need a MAGNIFYING GLASS to read Rockie Horoscope! Why not print the whole paper in a microscopic and very delicate font so I can just INTUIT what might be on the page? The column has the same amount of space, so why the delicate, unreadable font? And trying to copy and paste the column from your site is very labor-intensive, since it downloads in colors that need to be worked over and over to get a plain black-and-white version.

Always a great idea to take a good thing and make it worse! May your eyeglass prescription increase tenfold!

—Lorrie Marlow West Hollywood

Ethnic Mix-up

Regarding Jonny Whiteside’s piece on Johnny Legend [“The Ghastly World of Johnny Legend,” August 29– September 4]: Ronnie Weiser is Italian, not German.

—Jon Johnson Boston, Massachusetts

Great Leap Backward

In reference to Alex Markels’ article about the Earth Liberation Front [“The Monkey Wrench Guerrillas,” August 29–September 4], I was a little disturbed by the lighthearted reference to Mao’s Little Red Book in an organization that takes no responsibility for the actions of its members.

Did the author realize that Mao may have been an anarchist as a writer, but he was an authoritarian in government? His anarchic tactics led to a totalitarian state where his word was gospel, neighbors informed on one another, society was veiled in suspicion, and the news was strictly censored — in order to make future rebellions impossible.

To flush out possible enemies, Mao would periodically relax censorship (e.g., the Hundred Flowers and Democracy Wall) and then impose it again. This would allow Mao to silence dissent before his catastrophic campaigns (e.g., the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution). Scapegoats would be created later to ensure that Mao escaped blame.

Perhaps someone in the press should point this out to our neo-anarchists — if they don’t know about it, that is.