World Cup coverage showed Western bias against Argentines
As an avid soccer fan, I have been most disappointed in the recent World Cup coverage. No wonder the Spanish-speaking network Univision attracts many who speak no Spanish.
The Sun's wire service story of the England vs. Argentina match was depressingly biased ("Agony for England," July 1). Granted, England has greater appeal to the American viewer. I only wish that American reporters were equally candid.
On Univision, it is out in the open: Commentators root for Latin American squads. Nonetheless, positive, accurate analysis is made about the opposing team, and "GOL!" is screeched, as in the last game, with each English goal. One feels absolute appreciation of the sport, regardless of alliance.
The Sun's article, written from an entirely English perspective, scattered with quotations from just the English team and coach, presents a lopsided picture. English fan hooliganism was airbrushed as "a core of unruly fans that occasionally dampened the entire tournament." (Just ask the French about that.) Never was it posited that the English players, too, were arrogant in attitude and committed highly offensive -- often uncalled -- fouls.
The graceful, often technically brilliant and valiant Argentine effort was left unmentioned.
Rachel Morgan Moran
Towson
'Historical' movies add to our ignorance of history
In his letter, Calvin Lampley criticizes Sun columnist Gregory Kane, presumably for the latter's objections to the racist stereotypes in the movie "Gone With the Wind" (" 'Gone With the Wind was fiction, not history,' " July 3). Because the original novel is "fiction and not history," Mr. Lampley apparently believes that the film's flagrant distortions are acceptable.
Oliver Stone's film "JFK" places Richard Nixon at the head of a conspiracy to assassinate President John Kennedy in Dallas in 1963. There is no truth to this notion, but a lot of people took it as gospel.
There is an appalling lack of knowledge of history in our country. We can't very well deal with our problems unless we understand how they came to be.
"Historical" movies that lie to today's viewers are making a serious problem even worse.
Thomas N. Longstreth
Baltimore
Blustery Teddy Roosevelt was No. 2 on San Juan Hill
A great article by Joseph R. L. Sterne about a psychologically mixed up Teddy Roosevelt, but we missed a solid reference to his commanding officer, Leonard Wood ("Up the hill, to the White House," July 1).
Wood was a physician who practiced in Washington after graduation from medical school at Harvard University. Apparently bored by life in the capital city, he signed on as a contract surgeon for service in the Army. His bravery and leadership, when he took over for a regular Army officer who was killed in battle, won him the Medal of Honor.
It was Leonard Wood who in 46 days recruited, equipped, trained and led troops overseas to success in battle as the famed Rough Riders, the unit in which Roosevelt was a boaster. Whether they won alone or with the help of other soldiers, whether it was Kettle Hill or San Juan Hill they stormed, Wood deserves the credit for his unit's overall performance -- Roosevelt was his second in command.
Later, and of more nearly permanent honor, in about 1908, Wood established the Reserve Medical Corps, the first unit of the U.S. Army Reserve, which has become so important in our nation's defense.
Wood had many more credits as an army general, including the establishment of peace in Cuba and in the Philippines. He became the only physician to serve fully as chief of staff of the U.S. Army (Benjamin Rush, another physician, may have held this position briefly in the very early days of our republic.)
After his benign brain tumor was removed early in this century, Wood was left with paralysis on one side. Undaunted, he continued to serve as a major figure in our government. He died after removal of the recurring tumor in 1928.
Mr. Sterne clearly showed Lieutenant Colonel Roosevelt, at best an inefficient battlefield commander at San Juan Hill, to be a self-important blowhard.
John B. De Hoff, M.D.
Cockeysville
Individual liberties include freedom not to recite pledge
"In any other country, it would be regarded as treason," states Grafton K. Gary on those unwilling to say the Pledge of Allegiance ("Saying Pledge of Allegiance a show of deserved respect," July 2) in his letter to the editor.
Nonsense, I say. It would only be regarded as treason in countries that are controlled by dictators or others with a fascist mentality.
Fortunately, we have a Bill of Rights that protects individual liberties. However, as much as anyone may desire it, we are not here to be jerked around like their puppets on a string.
Mr. Gray has never heard of or doesn't agree with the U.S. Supreme Court's 1943 ruling concerning the refusal of some members of Jehovah's Witnesses to comply with a state law that sought to compel participation in a flag salute in public schools. Justice Robert H. Jackson, writing for the majority in West Virginia Board of Education vs. Barnette, said: "To sustain the compulsory flag salute we are required to say that a Bill of Rights which guards the individual's right to speak his own mind, left it open to public authorities to compel him to utter what is not in his mind."
Judging from his remarks, Mr. Gray must think saluting officers in the military, bowing to martial arts instructors and rising for judges is just great. Life in the military is not a democracy, which is one reason why I did not re-enlist after serving my time.
But I'll take a democracy, where we are all equals with the right to live our lives according to our own consciences, over any place where those who regard themselves as superior are in charge and the rest of us are their robots.
I hope we are not heading for despotism, but sometimes I wonder.
Kenneth A. Stevens
Savage
Story erred by referring to 'Polish death camps'
Michael Ollove's article ("Bearing witness," June 28) dealing with the U.S. Holocaust Museum was interesting and informative. It is flawed by an egregious blunder. His use of the phrase "Polish death camps" cruelly offends brave people who were the first to battle Hitler and endured persecution all through World War II.
There were no "Polish death camps." Concentration and death camps were a German invention. In 1933, the Nazis established the notorious Dachau camp and in following years cluttered Germany with eight more concentration camps.
After the invasion of Poland in September 1939, the Nazis established a detention center for Polish prisoners of war at Stutthof on the Baltic coast. Stutthof became the first German concentration camp on Polish territory. The slave labor camp was responsible for the deaths of about 90,000 Polish citizens. The Germans opened Auschwitz in June 1940, and on June 14, the first prisoners arrived -- 756 Polish political prisoners.
The term "Polish death camps" is a vicious canard that a world-class newspaper such as The Sun should not only avoid but condemn.
The Polish community of Baltimore hopes you will see fit to make an appropriate condemnation.
Stanley A. Ciesielski
Baltimore
The writer is president of the Polish Heritage Association of Maryland.
'City That Reads' needs a library that feels safer
The Baltimore catch phrase "The City That Reads" should certainly apply to the main Enoch Pratt Free Library on Cathedral Street. This lovely bastion of culture, this temple of learning is mainly frequented by ghosts of patrons past.
I stop periodically at the main library and see some patrons and lots of homeless people hanging around.
The homeless people have been a deterrent for many others, although the library on Cathedral Street is a treasure trove of books.
Pratt's director, Carla Hayden, is a great asset to Baltimore, a woman of rare vision. She should be given free rein to implement her innovative ideas.
As far as the homeless, it seems that moving the soup kitchen to another area would not only be beneficial to the library, but would also lessen crime in the area. I used to speak to an elderly man with an artificial leg from the Westminster House. He told me he had been mugged three times on Charles Street.
Why should the Charles Street and Pratt Library corridors deteriorate? We should rejuvenate the area, make it safe and be able to use the library without apprehension and dismay.
Then Baltimore might truly become "The City That Reads."
Lauraine Polashuk
Baltimore
Pub Date: 7/09/98
JTC