Michael Jackson good,
Mirror very bad

On this Remembrance Day I decided to honour those who fought and died for this country in various ways.

One way is to share with you my feelings about honour and goodness. I remembered the Mirror’s Chris Barry writing in “Cashing in on cashing out,” his interview with Ian Halperin: “Did it ever cross your mind that maybe dying was the best thing that could’ve happened to this wreck of a creature?” Barry was referring to Michael Jackson. So I stopped reading the Mirror.

Yesterday I went to see This Is It and was blown away, as I knew I would be, by Michael Jackson. I couldn’t enjoy it because Michael died and was cruelly criticized and badgered all his life.

Barry’s words of hate pale against Michael’s words and deeds of love, however they do bother me. Those words are just a reflection of the ugliness of the Mirror.

It bothers me that good people are either made fun of, ruthlessly and falsely criticized or ignored. For example, Mosé Persico. Mosé is one the kindest, personable, intelligent individuals who represent the true “Best of Montreal.” You are malicious towards Ben Mulroney and say awful things about Celine Dion. These people are kind and have talent and class. The Mirror does not when it prints terrible things.

The ads for American Apparel are too close to child pornography for comfort. Does Barry realize that his pay is coming from pimps who sell out women in your sex ads? These ads lead to dangerous criminal activity and young girls feeling that it’s okay to sell their bodies as a way to earn a living. Boys feel a sense of entitlement when it comes to women—that they could get some girl to act out whatever creepy fetish that comes to their love-starved mind.

There are artists in this city who are never mentioned because the Mirror decides that they are uncool, and haven’t even seen these artists perform.

Since I stopped reading the Mirror, I have begun to feel much better. I couldn’t help but notice all the hate and negativity that I absorbed when I ignorantly picked up a “free” copy of the Mirror. I took in the rants, lies and ugliness printed along with my own displeasure of seeing the ads.

Now I’m taking a more active approach and “making that change,” as Michael Jackson so wisely advised us to do. I look at my own reflection in the mirror and focus on what is loving, kind, generous and beautiful.

There is no more room for hate. I hope Chris Barry apologizes and becomes enlightened. I will no longer nourish myself on toxicity.

Michael Jackson was innocent! Michael was love and people like you were hell-bent on destroying him. Men and women did not risk their lives in wars for us to live in hate the way this publication does.

Let us live in love. I hope others who read this will do the world a favour and stop reading this publication and “make the world a better place for you and for me.”

>>MARY O’GRADY

STM police state?

On Friday, November 13th on the orange line between Snowdon and Lionel Groulx (going towards Montmorency), a couple of supposed—I say supposed because they never properly identified themselves—STM inspectors walked through the train and asked everyone to produce their Opus cards to prove they had paid. They took everybody’s Opus cards and scanned them with some sort of hand-held device.

This was a very uncomfortable experience. I really don’t enjoy being compelled to produce identification while minding my own business on public transport. The agent, to his credit, did say that they were conducting checks to ensure that everyone had paid for their trip and was very polite, but they did not produce any identification to back up their claims of being STM inspectors.

Furthermore, I paid for my trip even though there was no attendant at the booth at the entrance of the station where I boarded the train. Rather than subjecting innocent travellers to summary identification checks à-la-police-state, perhaps the STM should consider beefing up their staffing levels so that they can properly control ingress into the metro network. I found it really disturbing that not one single person on the train even questioned the fact that they were being compelled to produce proof of payment. Isn’t that how we eventually wind up with a police state? Furthermore this type of random search proves nothing! Take for example the scenario of someone who purchases a single ticket, puts the ticket in the turnstile and then throws the used ticket in the garbage... would these same “inspectors” (seriously how do I know these guys weren’t just scammers trying to clone my card???) have given that person a ticket because they did not have a proof of purchase on their person at that time?

You are not (as far as I know) legally required to retain proof of payment while riding the metro. Come on STM, this is not the right way to cut down on tariff fraud! Put some thought into it and come up with a way that doesn’t involve what amounts to an unwarranted random shakedown of your (paying) customers! I’m suddenly getting the urge to call Julius Grey...

>>BRENT FORSBER

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