Letters to the Editor The Net: More than a Gimmick
I am writing in response to Anthony Jankowski's letter because I think he's missing an important point about the Internet. The Internet is not just a cool new media gimmick. It's not just a neat place to look up reviews for movies that interest you or ask X-Files stars who they think will win the world series.
The Internet is potentially THE most important communications invention of the century. It also threatens the hold that existing power structures (government, canned news media, big business) have over our lives. For those who have tapped into its potential, it offers a mechanism whereby 1000 people can be convinced to write their congressman in response to an unconstitutional bill before Congress or in response to a corporate polluter trying to avoid repairing the damage it has done the environment.
It is also a potent tool whereby public pronouncements can be weighed for their truth value and possibly found lacking. It can allow John (or Jane) Q. Citizen to compare a politician's statement about crime rates with the FBI's Uniform Crime Stats in just minutes...and then post a note about their findings which thousands of other people read (having grown sick of their local newspapers' biased reporting). This places in the hands of most people a power heretofore reserved to a privileged few.
Don Baldwin
In Defense of "Murder One"
I was astonished and dismayed by your negative review of "Murder One" which I consider one of the best series on TV. It made me wonder if you and I were watching the same show. I find Benzali's performance to be riveting. I think I could sit and listen to him speak for hours without getting tired. And the show itself is fascinating. I feel exactly the same way I do when I'm reading a really good courtroom-drama novel. The twists and turns of the case have kept me guessing and the scenes between Benzali and Tucci have been simply brilliant. Here is good and evil squared off in the form of two extremely believable characters. But these are not the only outstanding performances.
My greatest admiration goes to Jason Gedric whose Neil Avedon has slowly grown and matured throughout the series. We watch him go from drug-based arrogance through abject panic and the first fumbling attempts to recover his sobriety to the point at which he is beginning to understand himself and his own behavior. "Murder One"'s writers, assisted by a finely nuanced and powerful performance by Jason Gedric, have given us a character who lives and breathes, grows and changes before our eyes in a way that is totally believable and utterly real. This performance, in and of itself, is enough to earn "Murder One" my full attention and faithful viewing.
I hope ABC will see the show the way I, and many other loyal viewers, do -- and will give it another chance to bring us another season.
Jennifer Lyon
Madison, WI
The Truth is Out There
One would think that SALON would, at the very least, realize that the great thing about the WEB is that people don't have to get their news from one source anymore....and that bogus analysis such as that proferred by Gene Lyons is as transparent as can be...and that anything that TIME reports is equally irrelevant. LOTS of people have been getting LOTS of good information from alt.currentevents.clinton.whitewater for a long, long time. The emperor doesn't have any clothes, and neither does his wife, and everyone knows it...no matter how much apologists such as Gene Lyons fuss and fume. Get with it, or get lost, SALON! No credibility = no readers!
Paul Glendinning
Give Republicans a Break
Gawdamighty, I get tired of reading about "Those Crazy Right-Wingers." Believe it or not, the Republicans have some damn good ideas, and it's time for a few changes after forty (FORTY) years of one-party rule in the Congress. Not every Republican is a Pat Buchanan or a Phyllis Schlafly. Try taking an unbiased look at Sen. Dole (start with the Richard Ben Kramer book, "What it Takes.") Or how about a review of his Kansas colleague, Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum? Both are moderate, reasonable people. Sen. Dole sponsored the original food stamp legislation with Sen. McGovern, for example. Give us moderate GOPers a break, will ya?
Robert M. Smith Jr.
Flushed
I am always mutually flushed with chagrin and excitement when I get to my SALON bookmark. Chagrin, because I don't read SALON half as regularly as I'd like. Excitement, because I always find something delicious or witty or deliciously witty in every edition.
Please keep Cintra Wilson ON. Her latest, on the benefits of blended female human reproduction with female turtle reproduction, made me laugh out loud. Besides, I agree with her. And even if I didn't, her scorching verbage would make it a worthwhile read.
Your new Table Talk is very much improved. Thank you. No more thick graphics to get through to find a topic. And your navigation system is one of the cleanest, easiest ones I've come across in a long while.
"Read SALON..." It's going in my weekly planner.
Kristen Burkholder
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