HATRED, BIGOTRY, FEAR

I was viscerally repulsed by Congressman Charlie Norwood's "Defend Families" letter, published in the Oct. 22 Flagpole. But Norwood is not my Congressman, so I decided to write 12th District Representative Max Burns instead. This is what I wrote:

Dear Congressman Burns, I received your recent flyer about education, and I must say that I applaud your focus on this issue. Yet I feel compelled to ask, do you believe in teaching our children to hate?

I refer here to your colleague Charlie Norwood's strongly expressed support for the Federal Marriage Amendment. This proposed Amendment is motivated by hatred, bigotry and unfounded fear. Its supporters claim to be interested in defending families, but I fail to see how two other people entering a committed relationship hurts my family in any way. In a recent letter about the amendment, Congressman Norwood goes so far as to commit an egregious and deliberate lie-by-omission to support this flimsy reasoning. He cites social statistics that "repeatedly tell us that the health and success of children who are raised with a mom and dad" enjoy better health and success, but he deliberately ignores all of the evidence that children enjoy the same benefits if they live with two moms or two dads. No lesser body than the American Academy of Pediatrics has endorsed this fact, citing several well-conducted studies. He also talks about "the will of the people" in a number of different ways, ignoring the important principle that the Constitution is in many ways designed to protect us from the will of the people. The tyranny that threatens any democracy most is tyranny of the majority.

So why am I writing you about Congressman Norwood's failings as a legislator and, frankly, as a human being? I would ask you to talk to him as a colleague, but I have little reason to believe that anyone can be talked out of bigotry. No, I am writing to ask you to vote against this legislation and any similar assault on equal rights for ALL Americans. The right wing of the Republican party is almost certainly going to attempt to make a strong stance against gay marriage into a campaign issue, capitalizing on bigotry and the fear of change with a vehemence not seen since Republicans and Dixiecrats opposed civil rights in the '60s. I am writing to ask you to please stand up for human rights: Don't cave in to the pressure to voice or vote the party line on this matter. It is not only morally reprehensible, I predict that it will also be politically costly.

You won your Congressional seat largely because you were opposed by a man known to lack character and integrity. The same cannot be said of the Democrats who are already campaigning for the opportunity to run against you next year, all three of whom are widely respected. If you want to keep your seat, you must demonstrate that you are a man of genuine character and integrity, a man who respects all citizens and the Constitution of the United States of America. The 12th District is not like Charlie Norwood's 9th District. We don't stand for bigotry. And we won't vote for anyone whose record demonstrates support for bigotry.

George M. Felis

Athens

OVERDUE APOLOGY

Before and after a few drug tragedies on Widespread Panic tours, I seized upon an opportunity to publicly bash a crowd of fans whom I saw as more interested in drugs than in their favorite band's music. Several of my letters-to-the-editor were published in the Flagpole and elsewhere, demanding that the band take a role in getting concert-goers to "chill out" on the drugs which seemed so rampant. Fans immediately jumped to the defensive, insisting in their own letters that "Spread-heads" were more about music, dance and bonding than drugs. Some fans must have smirked when they read in the newspaper that I myself had been arrested for allegedly growing two truck loads of pot in my yard.

The fans have proved me wrong, and not just by their claims, but by their actions. On the recent Widespread tour, newspaper clips seem to indicate overt crowd-targeting by drug-and-alcohol enforcement agents, but comparatively few arrests (mostly minor charges like open containers and a few misdemeanor drug counts), and no lethal overdoses. Yes, some kids will drink and get high at any concert, but the Widespread extended family really seems to have taken steps to subdue wild experimentation and dangerous revelry.

The Widespread family has overcome major challenges in the past two years, and they have boldly come through like champions, fan and bandmember alike. Do I regret my earlier complaints? I regret only not having retracted them prior to the passing of Michael Houser, who by all accounts was one of the most versatile and crowd-pleasing guitarists to grace this planet. This regret is not for Mr. Houser's sake, or for his fans, but is merely for the sake of my own conscience, Mr. Houser will surely be aware of it from the next plane of existence.

After all is said and done, I still don't care much for Widespread's music. Nonetheless, I now recognize Widespread Panic as the Athens-born treasure it is, and I see that their fanbase is one that any band should be proud of. I hope that the band and their fans accept this apology in the spirit in which it is meant - it comes from the harshest of critics. The Widespread family deserves a big round of applause from all of Athens, even from non-fans like me.

Alan L. Gordon

Athens

DISGUSTED BY REVIEW

If it wasn't for the disclaimer-type statement at the end of the Outkast review, I would probably have found the two guys that wrote it and thrown water balloons at them until they cried.

I'm sick of reading reviews that sound like this. And it's not just because I really love this Outkast album, particularly Andre's CD. Even reviews on releases I don't like or have never even heard of often make me want to write a letter such as this one.

I would expect the review to be by someone more qualified than a "pretentious white kid" who only listens to hiphop under two conditions. Listen to this CD as MUSIC, not hip hop just because that's where it will be at Best Buy. There is a lot of talk about The Love Below because Andre is doing something different, and it's not fucking flip flop. Just because you're sarcastic and don't like shit doesn't mean you are ahead of the game or smart. I'm disgusted by Gardner Linn.

Ben Williams

Athens