Salon | Letters to the editor

_______________THE FACE OF ZORRO BY LUIS VALDEZ (07/22/98)

Luis Valdez is offended that old Zorro is played by an English actor (actually both Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones are Welsh). More important, he sees the subliminal message of the second Zorro's (Banderas) being a Mexican peasant/thief/con man as a negative stereotyping, denigrating Mexicans. I understand his view, but there is another side to this paradigm.
In the tradition of Henry Higgins, who transforms a flower girl into a lady, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who finds the great rescuer in obscurity, Zorro shows that a Mexican peasant can be better than a European noble. Is there not a destruction of both class and race in this understanding of the myth? Do we not walk away with the message that while stuffed shirts and selfish pigs cannot be educated into good people, the poor, the dirty, the despised can, with a little help, make a life-saving, world-transforming difference?
Zorro, in this incarnation, is a hero who rises from the masses and triumphs over the elite and the effete. He shows that the rich are not automatically noble and the poor are not without virtue or hope. Pretty subversive stuff. Valdez is a very talented writer/director, and this seems right up his alley. I'd love to see him expand the premise and the myth.
-- Jonathan Dobrer
Encino, Calif.
Luis Valdez asks if Catherine Zeta-Jones' name "is real or just part of the hype. (Zeta, after all, means "Z" in Spanish.)" A bit of background work, or just a bit of decent editing, would show that that's her real name ... or was that just too cheap a shot to question?
-- Dave Fitch

_______________THE G-STRING MYSTERY BY COURTNEY WEAVER (07/22/98)

I'm a 51-year-old male. The last woman I dated (she was 37 years old then; the relationship ended more than a year ago) was the first I've known who wore thongs. She had several. Said she wore them to avoid panty lines. The first time I saw, actually, felt, her in one was a complete surprise, attendant with quite a jolt of increased energy, interest, curiosity and excitement. I thought it was just about the sexiest thing I'd ever seen.
Those five-for-a-dollar cotton full-bottom things like I'd seen hanging on wash lines growing up are what I call spanky pants. (Don't ask why: I don't know. Maybe that's what my ex-wife called them.) They are about the ugliest things I can imagine, however comfortable, practical and healthy (cotton breathes so much better than synthetics) they may be.
Since the above last woman and I shared an honesty of appreciating a degree of anal stimulation and pleasure, I asked her about the usual squeal of protest I hear when someone mentions thongs: Doesn't it feel like those things are going right up your ass? She turned, looked at me and shrugged. So I got some, too, and find them quite fun to wear.
Yes, a slight bit of anal tickling can be noticed initially when they are first put on, but the body does what it usually does with chronic stimulation. Within a matter of minutes you habituate to it and hardly notice it anymore. Unless maybe you pull on them as if to give yourself an intentional wedgie for the cheap thrill of it in a moment of mindless, or maybe not so mindless, idle self-stimming activity. It's hardly enough to get off on, but enough to enjoy a fleeting moment of self-induced simple pleasure. I mean, who hasn't felt some relief/curiosity/interest/pleasure at scratching their ass?
They are not only fun, but functional, at least from this male's perspective: more supportive than boxers, almost jocklike, in fact, coupled with a freedom (read: naked thighs, hips and butt) that feels about as good as wearing nothing at all, but more secure up front. Oh, yes, and there's the no-panty-line thing, too, though that seems less often a concern for men.
-- Name withheld
Courtney Weaver's article on lingerie was to say the least boring. I am to believe she found no men who like lingerie? Please, what does she do? Make this stuff up while daydreaming in the bathtub? Calgon take me away.
-- Timmy Rugbyrne

_______________A TANGLED WEB FOR VIRGINS SITE BY GREG LINDSAY (07/17/98)

It seems rather likely to me that this "hoax exposed" is itself the hoax -- or rather that it was the intended goal of the whole process from the beginning. The "hoaxer intended to make millions off of this event" explanation is ... well, unlikely, to put it kindly. If, on the other hand, publicity for all involved was the goal, everything falls quite neatly into place.
Since there has been a fair amount of doubt about the reality of ourfirsttime.com from the beginning, someone popping up and claiming responsibility for the hoax would arouse relatively little interest. A few short paragraphs buried here and there, probably, most beginning, "As many people suspected," and making only slight and passing reference to the people involved. The "hoax exposed" angle, however, created by a few prudent leaks, converts it into breaking news -- a real story that merits lots of coverage and involves frequent mention of the "hoaxers'" names, the names of their businesses, the URLs of their Web sites and so on.
I have to believe that this is not so much a hoax as it is an example of fine media manipulation. Or perhaps it's a hoax hoax?
-- Whitney McNamara
Without getting into kettles and name-calling colors, let me ask you a question: How funny is it that Salon would run a story titled "Why the mainstream media swallowed the 'Ourfirsttime.com' hoax" when Salon (along with Wired) gave the story its first major coverage? In fact, you thought it was so interesting that you let it run on for two pages.
I think the real story should be titled: "How Salon's gullible morons covered up for swallowing the Ourfirsttime.com hoax by pointing out how gullible morons at the 'mainstream media' swallowed the hoax even later than they did?"
That would be some honest journalism that I'd like to see on Salon.
-- Edison Carter
Sand Point, Idaho
SALON | July 27, 1998

R E C E N T L Y+| WHY CONSERVATIVES HATE CLINTON BY JOE CONASON

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_______________THE FACE OF ZORRO BY LUIS VALDEZ (07/22/98)
	Luis Valdez is offended that old Zorro is played by an English actor (actually both Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones are Welsh). More important, he sees the subliminal message of the second Zorro's (Banderas) being a Mexican peasant/thief/con man as a negative stereotyping, denigrating Mexicans. I understand his view, but there is another side to this paradigm. In the tradition of Henry Higgins, who transforms a flower girl into a lady, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who finds the great rescuer in obscurity, Zorro shows that a Mexican peasant can be better than a European noble. Is there not a destruction of both class and race in this understanding of the myth? Do we not walk away with the message that while stuffed shirts and selfish pigs cannot be educated into good people, the poor, the dirty, the despised can, with a little help, make a life-saving, world-transforming difference? Zorro, in this incarnation, is a hero who rises from the masses and triumphs over the elite and the effete. He shows that the rich are not automatically noble and the poor are not without virtue or hope. Pretty subversive stuff. Valdez is a very talented writer/director, and this seems right up his alley. I'd love to see him expand the premise and the myth. -- Jonathan Dobrer Encino, Calif. Luis Valdez asks if Catherine Zeta-Jones' name "is real or just part of the hype. (Zeta, after all, means "Z" in Spanish.)" A bit of background work, or just a bit of decent editing, would show that that's her real name ... or was that just too cheap a shot to question? -- Dave Fitch
_______________THE G-STRING MYSTERY BY COURTNEY WEAVER (07/22/98)
	I'm a 51-year-old male. The last woman I dated (she was 37 years old then; the relationship ended more than a year ago) was the first I've known who wore thongs. She had several. Said she wore them to avoid panty lines. The first time I saw, actually, felt, her in one was a complete surprise, attendant with quite a jolt of increased energy, interest, curiosity and excitement. I thought it was just about the sexiest thing I'd ever seen. Those five-for-a-dollar cotton full-bottom things like I'd seen hanging on wash lines growing up are what I call spanky pants. (Don't ask why: I don't know. Maybe that's what my ex-wife called them.) They are about the ugliest things I can imagine, however comfortable, practical and healthy (cotton breathes so much better than synthetics) they may be. Since the above last woman and I shared an honesty of appreciating a degree of anal stimulation and pleasure, I asked her about the usual squeal of protest I hear when someone mentions thongs: Doesn't it feel like those things are going right up your ass? She turned, looked at me and shrugged. So I got some, too, and find them quite fun to wear. Yes, a slight bit of anal tickling can be noticed initially when they are first put on, but the body does what it usually does with chronic stimulation. Within a matter of minutes you habituate to it and hardly notice it anymore. Unless maybe you pull on them as if to give yourself an intentional wedgie for the cheap thrill of it in a moment of mindless, or maybe not so mindless, idle self-stimming activity. It's hardly enough to get off on, but enough to enjoy a fleeting moment of self-induced simple pleasure. I mean, who hasn't felt some relief/curiosity/interest/pleasure at scratching their ass? They are not only fun, but functional, at least from this male's perspective: more supportive than boxers, almost jocklike, in fact, coupled with a freedom (read: naked thighs, hips and butt) that feels about as good as wearing nothing at all, but more secure up front. Oh, yes, and there's the no-panty-line thing, too, though that seems less often a concern for men. -- Name withheld Courtney Weaver's article on lingerie was to say the least boring. I am to believe she found no men who like lingerie? Please, what does she do? Make this stuff up while daydreaming in the bathtub? Calgon take me away. -- Timmy Rugbyrne
_______________A TANGLED WEB FOR VIRGINS SITE BY GREG LINDSAY (07/17/98)
	It seems rather likely to me that this "hoax exposed" is itself the hoax -- or rather that it was the intended goal of the whole process from the beginning. The "hoaxer intended to make millions off of this event" explanation is ... well, unlikely, to put it kindly. If, on the other hand, publicity for all involved was the goal, everything falls quite neatly into place. Since there has been a fair amount of doubt about the reality of ourfirsttime.com from the beginning, someone popping up and claiming responsibility for the hoax would arouse relatively little interest. A few short paragraphs buried here and there, probably, most beginning, "As many people suspected," and making only slight and passing reference to the people involved. The "hoax exposed" angle, however, created by a few prudent leaks, converts it into breaking news -- a real story that merits lots of coverage and involves frequent mention of the "hoaxers'" names, the names of their businesses, the URLs of their Web sites and so on. I have to believe that this is not so much a hoax as it is an example of fine media manipulation. Or perhaps it's a hoax hoax? -- Whitney McNamara Without getting into kettles and name-calling colors, let me ask you a question: How funny is it that Salon would run a story titled "Why the mainstream media swallowed the 'Ourfirsttime.com' hoax" when Salon (along with Wired) gave the story its first major coverage? In fact, you thought it was so interesting that you let it run on for two pages. I think the real story should be titled: "How Salon's gullible morons covered up for swallowing the Ourfirsttime.com hoax by pointing out how gullible morons at the 'mainstream media' swallowed the hoax even later than they did?" That would be some honest journalism that I'd like to see on Salon. -- Edison Carter Sand Point, Idaho SALON \| July 27, 1998