Girls on trial

So this is what it takes to make the front page of the Mirror: four young English-speaking girls before the court, accused of beating up a "Québécois rock god" and his girlfriend. ["Sweet young things that go bump in the night," Jan. 28].

For Kristian Gravenor, the incident can be summarized as a late-night scuffle between "club kids vs hippies, girls vs boys, age vs youth and English vs French." There's news there, but there's no way I can justify the Mirror making the story its cover.

If they really had beaten up two people and are proven guilty without a doubt, they don't deserve the VIP treatment you gave them. If this was just a minor late-night incident, as the article suggests, they'll get what--probation? If they have nothing to reproach themselves for and the charges are dropped, this isn't a big deal either. In neither case do they deserve to get their 15 minutes of fame.

The only way this can be a big story is if the young ladies have apparently nothing to reproach themselves for, but get convicted anyway. But the trial isn't finished yet!

Of course, if you absolutely want to play it big, there's a way: you just portray your four young anglo girls as the victims of a very bad racist and sexist Quebec judicial system. In that case, the girls deserve the royal treatment. But you're better off making your point before the end of the trial, just in case the heroines don't get convicted. And it might help if you discredit the alleged victims, making insinuations about their economic and medical condition, to show how absurd it was to bring the charges from the beginning.

What the heck is going on with you guys? What if I go out with three friends and beat up an old English lady? Would you promise us the front page? Can you promise me that Kristian Gravenor will put the victim in the dock, saying that anyhow she was an old bitch?

By systematically looking at the outside world through the "(poor little) anglos/(bad) francos" paradigm, the Mirror gets surrealistic! It sucks.

--Pierre Gauthier

I congratulate the Mirror on its excellent cover story of January 28. I just hope that most readers are able to see the real issue at hand. This glorious tale of four girls beating up a faded rock dinosaur has nothing to do with justice or morality. It is about the continuing survival of the romantic ideal.

I'm sure we all agree that nobody would have cared if this story was about a bunch of regular schmoes punching it up outside a nightclub. We see fights up and down St-Laurent every night. The reason this story has captured the hearts and minds of so many people is the power of the romantic image.

That you chose to portray the girls as beautiful and dangerous feeds our idealized notion of superheroes. Your description of their high cheekbones and pouty lips is far more important than any issue of right or wrong! By the same token, the famous '60s photograph of Che Guevara's handsome face probably did a lot more to popularize the cause of social revolution than any of his actions. Thank you for giving us something to believe in!

--Bobby Beaton

Congratulations on an excellent lead article by Kristian Gravenor. As a friend of one of the defendants, Haddi Doyle, I want to thank you for giving these young women a public forum.

This court case has been an ordeal for both the girls and their parents, as well as being a squanderous waste of time and money. If only lawyers did come for $200/day as the article on your Web site stated. I think that $200/hour would be a more accurate figure.

--Dawson Truax

Victoria, B.C.

Curry kibbutz

I enjoyed Ivy Tolchinsky's review of Pushap ["Flower power," Jan. 28]. The restaurant has been recommended to me by many and I intend to visit it in the near future--light-ish Indian fare being the Utopian antidote to a Montreal February.

But I'm a little put off by her description of a waitress "kibbutzing" with clientele. Does this mean I'll be conscripted to work in the kitchen for free? Having to wash dishes at home is bad enough.

--Gary Jewell