Letters to the Editor

What You Say

[News, "Rubbers Stomped," Alex Pasquariello, Dec. 21, 2006] was a great article outlining the barriers to HIV intervention in the Philadelphia County jails. We are talking health issues here, not morality. People behind bars and teens between the ages of 14 and 25 are currently two of the most high-risk groups for HIV in this country. As a civilized nation, we must be willing to face this health crisis head on.

Condoms have been scientifically proven to prevent the spread of HIV, in the absence of abstinence. Condoms save lives. If you are against condoms, then something must be more important to you than saving lives. What kind of society do we live in where the people in power ignore a health crisis of this magnitude? People behind bars should have the same access to health-resource tools as the person who has the freedom to move about. Every life counts and is worth saving.

Waheedah Shabazz-El and Jose DiMarcos
ACT-UP Philadelphia

Let the Green Revolution begin! As for a fear of a surge in anti-Semitism [Loose Canon, "The Frog Jumped," Bruce Schimmel, Dec. 21, 2006], it's highly implausible. Rejection of some Israeli policies, on the other hand, is an entirely different matter: Sharonistic implantations on the West Bank, Israeli generals carpet-bombing with U.S. cluster bombs when they realized Hezbollah was winning, "no atomic bomb" (what has that mendacity meant?), Israeli anti-Arabism — calling them "sand niggers" — all these defections from Zionist idealism should be rejected by true friends of Israel.

Patrick D. Hazard
Weimar, Germany

In response to the letter recently written by Mr. Jacob Edgar referencing the Nov. 23 installment of Rodney Anonymous' "Aid or Invade?," I must say this: It is not standard practice for periodicals to flag articles containing irony [Feedback, "Rodney's Offensiveness,"Dec. 14, 2006]. Because of this, readers like you and I are often made to rely on our own senses of humor and irony to decipher the cryptic underlying messages routinely found in the independent media. For those not so cerebrally inclined, there are plenty of mainstream publications that do not cross, or even come close to any PC boundary; USA Today comes to mind.

More importantly, all Philadelphia natives should know that in Mr. Anonymous' most influential work, he has not only disdained cultural intolerance and promoted independent critical thinking, but he has done so to several tens of thousands of receptive ears, most of which were connected to young, impressionable minds. Mr. Anonymous has done considerable work intellectualizing an otherwise apathetic generation during his career, and for this reason alone he deserves to not be chastised by casual readers who don't have the capacity to understand the sense of humor that is uniquely his. Rodney Anonymous has done more in the last 25 years to eradicate ignorance than a thousand of Mr. Jacob's misguided letters to the editor ever could. I applaud City Paper for featuring such a magnificently daring writer and column.

H. Edgar Ozmun Jr.
Seattle, Wash.

By and large, I appreciated the thoughtful and non-sensational approach of [Cover, "Disposable Lives," Brian Hickey, Dec. 14, 2006]. But the conclusion — "Even though the victims were mothers and daughters themselves, we'll watch, but won't try to understand what can be done to help them" — was needlessly pessimistic. This may be, but it doesn't have to be. Police [are quoted] as saying, "These hookers, you have to work them on a daily basis. You have to catch them right away or else they're in trouble." But clearly any effort at helping is hobbled if the only tactic permitted is to "catch" and jail people for an occupation they may have been forced into by circumstances, or deprive them of business by entrapping their customers, without offering them any alternatives. In fact, this approach drives them away from police and thereby makes them more, not less vulnerable to violence. If we want to help prevent such tragedies, let's repeal the prostitution laws, so that those who choose this occupation can pursue it in a safe manner.

Eric Hamell
North Philadelphia