No folk Nazis

[Re: “Folk to the future,” Music, Oct. 16] Twice, in this short article, Johnson Cummins makes references to “the folk Nazis,” which, I gather from a quote in the article from Kim Barlow, are people in the folk scene who only support traditional music.

I’ve been around the folk scene for a long time, and though I know some, there are a few people who are devoted to traditional music to the exclusion of everything else, they’re relatively rare. Most traditional music devotees also listen to, and support other music. And even if they don’t, they aren’t Nazis.

I also know people who are exclusively devoted to such folk-rooted forms as bluegrass and blues. Within the jazz milieu, I know people devoted to bop who dismiss swing. That doesn’t make any of them Nazis.

Nazis believe in promoting and committing acts of hatred and genocide. No one, unless they subscribe to Nazi ideology, deserves to be called that because of their taste in music.

>>Mike Regenstreif

Down with apathy

[Re: “War is a snore,” Film, Oct. 16] Would that every single one of the 40.1 per cent of eligible voters who did not exercise their right to vote in last week’s federal election see the movie Passchendaele.

The film might help them to understand the price paid in terms of lives lost, bodies mangled and families torn apart by tens of thousands of their Canadian forebears in two world wars, so that they might have the privilege they so blithely renounced.

>>A. Lawrence Healey

[Re: “Angel: Blocking a Harper majority,” News, Oct. 16] Apathy and low voter turn-out plagued this past federal election. Personally, I’ve always believed that if a citizen doesn’t vote, they don’t deserve to bitch and complain about the government they get.

While working as a poll clerk at the election, I encountered an instance where someone was so eager to vote that even numerous obstacles didn’t deter his enthusiasm. I wish more people could learn from his example.

At a poll near mine, a young Asian-Canadian man was turned away not once but twice because he didn’t have the proper paperwork. I was sure he’d just give up but was shocked when, later that evening, he returned a third time. He’d even eaten his supper while waiting in line. This time, his papers were in order, and at long last he was able to cast his ballot.

I will remember that particular voter for a long time. While most Canadians take voting for granted, this guy put up with a lot of crap in order to have the opportunity to do, as he put it, his “civic duty.”

There are still way too many countries in the world where people would give their lives for a chance to vote in a democratic system of government. It’s sad when we Canadians take our freedoms for granted. Things aren’t perfect here; far from it, but it could be a hell of a lot worse. As individuals, we may feel powerless but together we can effect change. Bottom line? Next election, get off your ass and vote!

>>C.L. Illsley

Buying God a beer

[Re: “Evil is not God’s fault,” Letters, Sept. 4] I understand that it runs in our very nature as human beings to believe in a higher deity. It’s been obvious since the rise of Egypt, hasn’t it?

People require something or someone greater than themselves to worship and believe in. Letter writer John Hill said, “Religion will save the planet.” As a moral human being, I feel it is my obligation to open his eyes: more religion will only divide us! Certainly people can see that the more fanatical and devout you are to your faith, the more you “detest” similar yet different faiths.

Human kind is already divided by different cultures, races and beliefs. The more people who hold your medieval point of view, Mr. Hill, the more people close their minds to change and instead put their faith in an unseen and unanswering God. You must put your faith in mankind and science.

What matters is that you realize that we as humans are fucking up this planet. Together. And praying to God won’t help. He never answered billions of prayers throughout the ages, has he?

Instead, he has watched us destroy this planet and created the means to destroy ourselves, while ignoring the countless genocides and wars of history past. But hey, he’s good.

A logical way, and maybe the only way, to save ourselves is for us to accept our differences and work together, not as nations, but as human beings, in order to correct the foul mark we’re leaving on the Earth. Nevertheless, pray hard to your God, Mr. Hill. If he can clean up our mistakes on Earth in my lifetime, I’ll buy him a beer.

>>Cory Keleher

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