Letters to the Editor - Old news October 09 2003

It’s official — John Sugg has entered tinfoil hat territory.

The Bush family “ties” to the Nazis are not news to me; I read about them almost 10 years ago in The Big Book of Conspiracies by Doug Moench (Fishwrapper, “The Nazis in Dubya’s closet,” Oct. 2).

I realized long ago what curves one could draw using carefully selected and out-of-context points. If you already believe that George W. Bush is a Nazi, then a “curve” drawn from his grandfathers’ banking and political connections to him and his current policies makes perfect sense.

Sugg’s piece reminded me of “black helicopters,” Clinton’s alleged cocaine-trafficking and the lunatic Vince Foster “murder” plots of which the right was so fond. Uh-huh. Next Sugg will be telling us about the NASA-Masonic conspiracy to suppress hemp production because the Ascended Masters think cannabis will ruin the alien selective-breeding program. (“Paging Jim Morrison — white courtesy phone. Mr. Morrison, please pick up the white courtesy phone.”)

Space does not permit an examination of the complex reasons why some in ’30s America sympathized with Hitler, but it’s an inconvenient fact that many did. They were wrong. National socialism is so discredited that Nazis are little more than cartoon villains. Unfortunately, the West’s love affair with the equally murderous ideas of revolutionary socialism continues unabated. (“The mote in thy neighbors eye,” eh?)

If this is the best Sugg can do, Dubya doesn’t have much to worry about in 2004.

-- Scott Mize, Adairsville

br>?More power to them
I appreciated your article “The Nazis in Dubya’s closet” (Fishwrapper, Oct. 2). I especially liked that you began by mentioning the media’s disturbing reluctance to condemn Bush Jr. and his administration in the face of obvious ethical transgressions, including potentially fascist policies. The more the “free” press ignores these illicit relationships and transactions, the more power they give them.

-- M. Baroco, Atlanta

br>?Bad to the last drop?
Good article (Fishwrapper, “The Nazis in Dubya’s closet,” Oct. 2). Wish you could get more mainstream coverage of your articles on this subject. When American polls say Bush is still believed by most Americans to have been right about his sickening wars for profit, it makes thinking people want to puke. When are the American sheeple going to wake up and smell the betrayal?

-- Pat Robichaud, Halifax, Nova Scotia

?Fascists, fascists everywhere!
I agree with you (Fishwrapper, “The Nazis in Dubya’s closet,” Oct. 2). And the trouble is: They aren’t just in the Republican Party. There are lots of fascists in the Communist, uh, sorry, the Democrat Party, too. For example, all of the presidents for the past 40 years have been quietly issuing executive orders that consolidate power in their hands.

In the event of a crisis designated by the president, they can now seize your car, gasoline, house, newspaper, food and so on. At his command, it’s over. Don’t know why they bothered with the perversely named PATRIOT Act (boy, somebody has a sick sense of humor). After all, they don’t need it. Unless they were afraid that imposing a police state in one act would cause a rebellion.

-- Christine Ross, Virginia Beach, Va.

br>?Getting our hands dirty
I’m writing concerning your article about off-roading at Rich Mountain (News & Views, “Damn the trees, full speed ahead,” Oct. 2). I understand the concern of environmentalists about the effects of off-roading, but I think it’s important to realize that it’s not a black-and-white issue. While there are, like in everything else, those few that stereotype the rest, some of us have taken our hobby very seriously and want others to know that we do not blindly off-road without regard for the environment. Most clubs out there adhere to the “Tread Lightly” ideas and work to keep our trails open.

I have personally spent time volunteering to clean and maintain ORV trails in Georgia, along with hundreds of other people in the state, and hate to see all of our hard work go to waste. As far as I know, in the battle between the off-roaders and the environmentalists, I think you will find that the latter sits writing letters while the off-road community actually goes out and gets their hands dirty to make a difference. I don’t see the point of saving the forests if no one is allowed to even enjoy them. You may think that vehicles are the only ones suffering. But just wait, and you will see that if this one side prevails, you won’t even be allowed to walk in the forest anymore.

-- Anthony Senevey, Marietta

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What you haven’t read
Two things to remember if you’re ever tempted to dispute the convoluted and twisted logic John Sugg is prone to weave through the rants Creative Loafing publishes regularly: 1) It never makes sense to get into a pissing match with a skunk; and 2) why waste perfectly good and valuable time trying to correct a piece of work even the paper itself labels a Fishwrapper?

If you dissected a recent issue of Creative Loafing carefully, you might have seen some “clarifications” Sugg’s editor agreed to publish in wake of the Sept. 11 Fishwrapper (“Fox vs. media jackals”). Much of Sugg’s reporting — and many of his implications that we defrauded our supporters in our fight as whistleblowers against Fox Television — was false and based on nothing but innuendo. He never reported, for instance, our clear and unambiguous response that we have done nothing to mislead or defraud anyone who has helped us fight Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.

The corrections you haven’t read in these pages, the corrections we documented but the editor chose to ignore, are equally important and too numerous to detail here. We’re disappointed CL’s editor has apparently decided to do his favorite columnist a favor and look the other way on many of the errors we documented — just as some cops cover for cops and doctors sometimes do the same for their colleagues when they can’t just bury their mistakes.

I’ve never understood why Atlanta readers would be interested in a media dispute based in Tampa. But if you’re a journalism student, a media gadfly or just have an interest in what’s really behind Sugg’s extraordinary efforts to smear us, we invite you to visit our website at www.foxbghsuit.com. There you’ll find and judge for yourself what journalistic misconduct by Sugg CL wants to ignore.

What we found important to take away from our scrape with Sugg — and the purpose of our letter here — is this: Weekly alternative papers can provide a much-needed alternative to mainstream media. Unfortunately, for the people of Atlanta, while CL may be the best place to find a romantic sushi bar or a hot date, don’t confuse Sugg’s “journalism” with what you might find in the likes of the Village Voice or the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Read his work with this in mind: Here is a “journalist” who once admitted, right here in print, “I don’t advocate ‘objective’ journalism,” and went on to say he does, however, believe “in a little fairness.” All too frequently, his Fishwrapper reeks of a lack of either.

-- Jane Akre and Steve Wilson

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Yearning for Zion
Andisheh Nouraee’s story about the founding of the state of Israel (Don’t Panic, Sept. 18) was rather incomplete. While he is correct in stating that modern (political) Zionism started with Herzl, the yearning for a return to Zion goes back thousands of years, and permeates Jewish liturgy and literature. The choice of the site of the current state of Israel derives from the biblical promise of the land to the Jews. (Despite the desperate situation of the Jews of Russia in the late 19th century — acknowledged by Mr. Nouraee — it was the delegation of Jews from Russia who turned down the “Uganda Plan” at the World Zionist Congress. The Uganda plan was a British offer to create a Jewish state in East Africa.)

Peace will not come to the Middle East until the radical Islamists recognize the right of the Jewish people to have a state in their ancestral homeland.

-- Toby Block, Atlanta

br>?Crazy is relative
Cliff Bostock: I had never contemplated that Republicans could actually possess insane qualities (Headcase, “Those crazy conservatives,” Sept. 11). After reading your article, I now see what you mean. I just recently graduated Georgia State with a BS in psychology. After some time off this summer, I became interested in political theory as well. I just wanted to let you know that your article gave me an option that I have never really thought about.

--Valerie Jurjevich, Decatur

br>?Hidden away
Your piece on Jeff Mangum was amazing (“Have you seen Jeff Mangum?” Sept. 4). I’m sure every Neutral Milk Hotel fan wonders where he’s hiding, where he’s been the past few years. You solved a lot of that, and it’s much appreciated. You seem to have gone to great lengths to try and solve the mystery around him, and that’s admirable.

And it’s always wonderful reading about others’ reactions or experiences or personal connections with Aeroplane. There are just so many stories. I think you hit on that “really well. Aeroplane is something everyone should understand, or at least have the chance to bring into their lives, because it changes everyone it touches.

The rumors circulating these days are that Mangum’s recording music for therapy in some hideaway in the Canadian forest. But anything’s likely with the guy, isn’t it?

-- Kristen Kennedy, Bethpage, N.Y.