What? We forgot to
blame the Zionists??

[Re: “Blood in the water,” Cover, Film, Aug. 13] The Mirror has become the latest of many publications to write about The Cove, a documentary currently screening in Montreal.

The producers risked arrest and harm to film, secretly, the mass torture of dolphins in the Japanese town of Taiji. The dolphins are apparently herded into a cove by ear-blasting sonar, then some animals are separated for sale to dolphin shows. The rest are slaughtered by spears, bullets and other devices until the sea water turns bright red (the pictures in some magazines are very graphic).

Congratulations to all for bringing this brutality to the attention of the public (and to Mirror for managing not to blame it all on Zionists as far as I know).

Now we await the expected response of animal rights activists and Eurocrats everywhere... a call for a total ban on the Canadian seal hunt!

>>Ken Frankel

The pasta diaspora

[Re: “Re-explaining Israel,” Letters, August 6] Hobbies are important. They make our leisure hours enjoyable and help us soothe some of our uncomfortable feelings of inadequacy and frustration. John Dirlik had apparently chosen bashing Israel as a hobby. Nothing wrong with that, mind you—a hobby is a hobby.

However, the problem of having just one hobby is that, as time goes on, it turns into a tedious and boring obsession. Take for instance being obsessed with Israel. After a while, one runs out of disapproving, negative and derogatory arguments on the subject and is compelled to resort to such sterile and wasteful musings as “are today’s Jews descendants of Biblical Israelites?”

Perhaps Mr. Dirlik should try to broaden his intellectual horizons by adding one more hobby to his interests in historical research, say, like looking at another ancient and interesting civilization: China. I am not a historical scholar of human affairs, but I did a great deal of research into the history, origins and the survival and cultural self-preservation of pasta. And I think I can enlighten Mr. Dirlik as to why today’s Jews feel that they are the children of biblical Israel. I’ll explain. 

There is perhaps a strange but yet parallel historical connection between the descendants of biblical Israelites and today’s pasta. Yes, pasta, that marvellous and unique Chinese invention, which a famous Italian traveller, Marco Polo, managed to smuggle out of its ancestral home and disperse it throughout the world.

Like the children of Israel, pasta and its delectable descendents—macaroni, fettucini, gnocchi, manicotti, cannelloni, noodles, farfalle, blintzes, pirozhkis and countless other genetic variations of it—have, during their diaspora away from their land of birth, China, also, after conversions and gastronomic and cultural intermarriage with foreign ingredients have somehow changed their original appearance and flavour. But let’s not deceive ourselves—they are still pasta. Chinese pasta, that is.

To remain true to one’s origin was a constant struggle. Lord, how they tried to change it into something else! The Italians drenched it in tomato sauce, the Germans smothered it in sour cream, the Hungarians mixed it with cabbage, the Russians stuffed it with meat, cheese and potatoes, and in order to erase its birthright and identity, they called it pirozhkis.

And yet, the Chinese pasta stubbornly, perhaps insanely so, remembered its origins and honoured it by remaining the same at its core. For take away the sauces, scoop out the stuffing, scrape away the toppings, and under the surface, it remains pasta. 

Perhaps some day, pasta, scattered all over the world, will return to claim a place under the sun in its place of birth: China. And if or when that will happen, I’m convinced that the likes of John Dirlik will be much against it and denounce it as a foreign occupation. But let’s look on the bright side: at least John Dirlik will have something new and less boring to rant about instead of his repetitious diatribes about Israel.

>>Ed Binder

Poetry corner

when are the people going to realize the fact
that Montreal and its people are where it all
began.
The most universal place to be at this special
time in existence when the truth emerges from
a truly universal mind existing right now
to give the answer to us all.
The proof of the existence of GOD as explained
by a believer

>>Ron Durocher

WE WELCOME LETTERS TO THE EDITOR!

Send your comments, compliments or criticisms to:

Letters to the Editor,

c/o Montreal Mirror,

465 McGill, 3rd Floor

Montreal, Quebec

H2Y 4B4

You may also fax us at (514) 393-3173, or reach us by e-mail at letters@mtl-mirror.com:

Letters to the Editor

All letters should include your name, address and daytime phone number.

If you wish to reach someone in particular, here's a list of people involved with the production of the newspaper and this site.