No shame?
Your article on fake hockey jerseys made in China and illegally imported into Canada quotes a spokesman for the National Hockey League saying that counterfeiters “have no shame” (One Of These Jerseys Costs $375 And The Other Costs $40 – Sports, Nov. 5). Genuine NHL jerseys cost up to $400, we’re told.
It’s no secret that tickets for NHL games are beyond the means of many middle-class families, that the league celebrates gratuitous violence, its de facto spokesman on television is a buffoon, and its values (such as they are) are increasingly divorced from ordinary Canadians. It’s just big business, after all.
Remind us again: Who has no shame?
Anders I. Ourom, Vancouver
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All in the families
Eighteen years ago, my lesbian partner and I consulted our family doctor about our desire to have children (The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective Lesbian Families – Nov. 5). Addressing our concerns about the challenges our potential kids might face, she responded, “99.9 per cent of families are dysfunctional and no one can find the other .1 per cent, so go ahead and have your children.”
Our daughter, 16, and son, 12, are happy and thriving. Neither has been bullied or socially excluded from the myriad of activities kids do, from sports teams to birthday parties and sleepovers.
Having our children has taught me that straight and gay families are, in the most important ways, the same. As parents, we’re all doing our best to raise well-adjusted, healthy, responsible kids.
Susan King, Ottawa
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The wrong people
Not everyone has Margaret Wente’s courage to afflict the afflicted and comfort the comfortable (Occupiers Are Blaming The Wrong People – Nov. 5). Blame not the greedy Wall Street bankers, but the unemployed sociology majors with two kids who got an education, hoping they could improve the world. What were they thinking?
Larry Kazdan, Vancouver
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I do not deride the 1 per cent; I am motivated to join their ranks.
When did personal responsibility fall so much out of style? When did deriding someone for whining become “blaming the victim”? Why are people so willing to abdicate their freedom to become lackeys of this or that union, government aid program or other assorted safety net? What begat this horrible culture of entitlement? We’re in turbulent times to be sure, but I’d rather we all took turns at the tiller. Far too many of us prefer to be ballast, ensconced below decks, tweeting on our smartphones about the injustice of it all.
Tell Margaret Wente to keep slaughtering those sacred cows.
Jonathan Hare, Stouffville, Ont.
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While I agree with the suspicion that not all the protesters may have been bloodied victims of greedy bankers, to single out a single mother who is struggling to support her children while pursuing an education as an example of “what’s wrong” with the protesters seems to me an egregious miscalculation on Margaret Wente’s part.
Rob Puchniak, Winnipeg
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Language goalposts
The federal government has been on the receiving end of well-deserved criticism for its appointment of a unilingual auditor-general (Opposition Scolds Tories For Unilingual Appointments – Nov. 4). The grounds on which the criticism is based, however, are mostly wrong.
There are many ways senior civil servants who speak only French or English can perform their duties. A senior deputy who is fluent in the other language is one option, simultaneous translation is another tool. Promising to learn the other language within a reasonable period of time, however, is not realistic.
The really valid criticism, however, is that no one knows whether, language proficiency aside, the new auditor-general is the best qualified person to hold such an important position. By prescribing bilingualism in the job description, it is reasonable to conclude that many highly qualified unilingual Canadians, recognizing their own language limitations, ruled themselves out and never applied or allowed their name to go forward.
