April fool’s!

[Re: Front*, Damn Left*, April 1] I must admit I was about halfway through the Frum article before I caught on. I sincerely enjoyed most of the April 1 related articles. It is a nice change.

Of course, Saxon’s bit on the Middle East was about as hilarious as other ones he does on the subject, but what the heck?

Good thing you didn’t try one in favour of Israel. That would have been a dead giveaway!

>>Ken Frankel

[Re: “Welcome Frum!” Front, News, April 1] That was fucking hilarious.

>>Jessie

[Re: “The big lies,” Letters, April 1] I was almost ready to respond to Ken Frankel’s outrageous claim that Israel’s ethnic cleansing and apartheid were “big lies” by citing Israeli historian Ilan Pappe’s “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” and Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s statement that apartheid is systemic in the occupied territories.

But then I realized that Frankel’s absurd letter could only have been an April Fool’s joke. You almost got me, Kenny.

>>Patrice Bombardier

[Re: “Dead teen blocks peace,” Damn Left, News, April 1] Let me begin by expressing my deep respect and admiration for the profession of journalism and its advocates. Journalism is perhaps one of the last honourable professions left in the world, it is part of that shrinking club whose sole purpose for existence is not necessarily always the unquenchable quest for profit but more decent and commendable products that are very much lacking in our corporate hypermarket of a world: truth, debate, education and knowledge.

It is for this reason that I must respond to Mr. Saxon’s article “Dead Teen Blocks Peace,” one that has enflamed my senses and insulted my sensibilities as a human being. This is not reporting but rather the purest form of opinionated garbage that is not supported by research or fact and only serves as ammunition for extremists… [letter continues for 758 more words]

>>Mazin Almusharaf

[Ed’s reply: April Fool’s!]

Dead teen not dead

[Re: “Dead teen blocks peace,” Damn Left, News, April 1] With regard to your story in the current issue about the supposed killing of Palestinian Muhammad al-Farmawi by Israeli forces, I hope you will follow up with the news that the boy has emerged unharmed after being apprehended by Egyptian authorities while sneaking into Egypt. Your coverage of stories related to the Arab-Israeli conflict can be called selective, at best. So I do hope you will do your best to present a more balanced picture.

>>Barry Goodz

[Ed’s reply: When the April Fool’s Damn Left was composed, the dead teen story was being reported as fact by several news organizations, including the BBC and the New York Times. After publication, on Saturday, April 3, it emerged that Mohammed al-Faramawi was indeed still alive.]

Mutual respect

[Re: “Animal Farce,” Weekly Round-up, Film, April 1] I read your critic about my movie. I like the mutual language that was used. Very professional way of writing. I am saying that because I was a film studies student at Concordia and I must know the stylish writing by now.

>>Nader Dolatschia, Director,
Animal Farce

Raf LOL

[Re: “Raf exposes warts,” Letters, April. 1] In this often mundane world of metros, text-messaging, road rage and angry, stressed, impatient individuals (this does include me at times), Raf’s column always makes me laugh out loud. I can sometimes laugh for up to three metro stations, often turning purple and gasping for air.

>>Damien

Budget brutality

[Re: “Fly in, pay up,” News, April 1] This is not a budget; this is brutality. To paraphrase Lou Reed, why not club the middle class to death and get it over with? What are we working for? Oh, I know, to exercise our choice to be consumers because, of course, if we’re able to buy goods and services, then we can obviously afford to pay the extra QST in 2011 and 2012. Otherwise, if we’re too poor, then we wouldn’t buy clothes to wear to work, would we? No, of course not, we would walk around naked. And we should feel privileged to pay a health fee for medical service—why, the last time I was at the Montreal General, I was privileged enough to witness two nurses screaming at each other over a typo that one made—oh, wait a minute, it’s not really a health fee, it’s an entertainment charge for the fucking circus that we call a health system. Now I get it. Next election, let us please throw these thugs out.

>>Dale-Ann Ouellette

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