Salon | Letters to the editor

_______________"HUNDRED DOLLAR HOLIDAY" BY BILL MCKIBBEN REVIEWED BY NORAH VINCENT (12/21/98)

I think Norah Vincent is missing the point of the Bill McKibben's book, philosophy and message. As McKibben says in "Hundred Dollar Holiday," much of the commercialization of Christmas is a fairly recent phenomenon, started by the manufacturing and retailing establishments. Merchants have not always had Christmas to rely on for the bulk of their sales each year.
If Vincent was really familiar with McKibben and his works, then she would know that he has also written about the evils of television when compared with the real world in "The Age of Missing Information," and his personal choice to have only one child in "Maybe One: A Personal and Environmental Argument for Single-Child Families." In the latter, McKibben advocates for lessening our negative impact on the Earth by reducing our population and the consumption that each of us is a party to.
So, I believe Bill McKibben's message is very consistent: In reducing consumption, even at Christmas time, we are building a better world. He advocates spending more time with one's family -- not just Christmas morning around the tree. As for the economic issue, we really need to examine our consumption in this world, and this country in particular. Do we really need Furbies? Do we really need cheap, plastic trinkets? No, we don't. This items contribute to a great deal of waste in this world, in both the manufacturing and the packaging sides.
In the end, if we stopped buying things that people neither want nor need, and spent more time enriching our relationships with them, then maybe we'd know them better and be able to give them more meaningful gifts -- whether purchased or handmade, as McKibben does -- that both are more appreciated and, in the end, may save all of us some money each holiday.
-- Christopher K. Eaton
Santa Clarita, Calif.
Norah Vincent's Grinchy little review of Bill McKibben's "Hundred Dollar Holiday" just made her seem snide and impressed with her own cleverness. I haven't read the entire book, so I'm sure there are aspects to criticize, but Vincent cannot see what McKibben is saying at all, and falls into the same trap of self-righteousness she accuses him of.
What I find most disturbing is her position (taking from Margaret Talbot) that civilization will end if we spend less at Christmastime. It's the same argument big corporations and their Republican stooges harrumph every time there's an increase in the minimum wage, or whenever some law gets passed like the Americans with Disabilities Act.
If (pick one) the ADA is passed, the minimum wage is raised, cars must have air bags, Christmas spending decreases, then "the economy would likewise falter, creating great hardship for everyone, especially the poorest of the poor." Phooey. This argument comes from the same mouths that say capitalism is the most flexible and creative economic system and should be allowed to run roughshod over everything that stands in its way.
McKibben is making a Christian, faith-based reminder that Christmas should be centered more on practicing values of family and charity and less on getting a Furby. Vincent, alas, subscribes to the modern myth -- so much a part of the background noise that we fail to discern it -- that the ultimate values are those of the marketplace and the greatest actions are those that serve it. Some of us don't think of Christmas as something "warm and fuzzy," but a reminder of sacred, important things, wherein the market is revealed as merely another false idol. McKibben realizes that; Vincent hasn't a clue.
-- Tim RuthStiver
South Pasadena, Calif.

_______________RIGHT ON! HOW "LOW" CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS BECOME "HIGH" BY DAVID HOROWITZ (12/21/98)

David Horowitz claims that deep in their hearts, Democrats know that President Clinton has defiled his office. Well, duh. I don't recall any Democrat defending the president's actions at the heart of the Monica Lewinsky matter. Despite Horowitz's painfully tortured logic in trying to transform low actions and probably unprovable misdemeanors into "high misdemeanors," the true crime in this sorry episode is all too apparent. Nowhere in their hearts do the Republicans recognize how they have defiled the Constitution.
-- Ed Skibbe
Lakewood, Colo.
I forgot that the drive to impeach President Nixon was purely over the legendary third-rate burglary! I thought it was about all the other stuff that came after that! Thanks again to David Horowitz for setting me straight. As a Democrat, I look forward to his telling me what else is "deep in my heart."
-- Bob DuCharme
N E X T+P A G E+| What do "You've Got Mail" and the impeachment have in common?

_______________"HUNDRED DOLLAR HOLIDAY" BY BILL MCKIBBEN REVIEWED BY NORAH VINCENT (12/21/98)
	I think Norah Vincent is missing the point of the Bill McKibben's book, philosophy and message. As McKibben says in "Hundred Dollar Holiday," much of the commercialization of Christmas is a fairly recent phenomenon, started by the manufacturing and retailing establishments. Merchants have not always had Christmas to rely on for the bulk of their sales each year. If Vincent was really familiar with McKibben and his works, then she would know that he has also written about the evils of television when compared with the real world in "The Age of Missing Information," and his personal choice to have only one child in "Maybe One: A Personal and Environmental Argument for Single-Child Families." In the latter, McKibben advocates for lessening our negative impact on the Earth by reducing our population and the consumption that each of us is a party to. So, I believe Bill McKibben's message is very consistent: In reducing consumption, even at Christmas time, we are building a better world. He advocates spending more time with one's family -- not just Christmas morning around the tree. As for the economic issue, we really need to examine our consumption in this world, and this country in particular. Do we really need Furbies? Do we really need cheap, plastic trinkets? No, we don't. This items contribute to a great deal of waste in this world, in both the manufacturing and the packaging sides. In the end, if we stopped buying things that people neither want nor need, and spent more time enriching our relationships with them, then maybe we'd know them better and be able to give them more meaningful gifts -- whether purchased or handmade, as McKibben does -- that both are more appreciated and, in the end, may save all of us some money each holiday. -- Christopher K. Eaton Santa Clarita, Calif. Norah Vincent's Grinchy little review of Bill McKibben's "Hundred Dollar Holiday" just made her seem snide and impressed with her own cleverness. I haven't read the entire book, so I'm sure there are aspects to criticize, but Vincent cannot see what McKibben is saying at all, and falls into the same trap of self-righteousness she accuses him of. What I find most disturbing is her position (taking from Margaret Talbot) that civilization will end if we spend less at Christmastime. It's the same argument big corporations and their Republican stooges harrumph every time there's an increase in the minimum wage, or whenever some law gets passed like the Americans with Disabilities Act. If (pick one) the ADA is passed, the minimum wage is raised, cars must have air bags, Christmas spending decreases, then "the economy would likewise falter, creating great hardship for everyone, especially the poorest of the poor." Phooey. This argument comes from the same mouths that say capitalism is the most flexible and creative economic system and should be allowed to run roughshod over everything that stands in its way. McKibben is making a Christian, faith-based reminder that Christmas should be centered more on practicing values of family and charity and less on getting a Furby. Vincent, alas, subscribes to the modern myth -- so much a part of the background noise that we fail to discern it -- that the ultimate values are those of the marketplace and the greatest actions are those that serve it. Some of us don't think of Christmas as something "warm and fuzzy," but a reminder of sacred, important things, wherein the market is revealed as merely another false idol. McKibben realizes that; Vincent hasn't a clue. -- Tim RuthStiver South Pasadena, Calif.
_______________RIGHT ON! HOW "LOW" CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS BECOME "HIGH" BY DAVID HOROWITZ (12/21/98)
	David Horowitz claims that deep in their hearts, Democrats know that President Clinton has defiled his office. Well, duh. I don't recall any Democrat defending the president's actions at the heart of the Monica Lewinsky matter. Despite Horowitz's painfully tortured logic in trying to transform low actions and probably unprovable misdemeanors into "high misdemeanors," the true crime in this sorry episode is all too apparent. Nowhere in their hearts do the Republicans recognize how they have defiled the Constitution. -- Ed Skibbe Lakewood, Colo. I forgot that the drive to impeach President Nixon was purely over the legendary third-rate burglary! I thought it was about all the other stuff that came after that! Thanks again to David Horowitz for setting me straight. As a Democrat, I look forward to his telling me what else is "deep in my heart." -- Bob DuCharme N E X T+P A G E+\| What do "You've Got Mail" and the impeachment have in common?