Turned off Web TV

I read with amusement techno-mogul Richard Szalwinski's vision of the Web and the economics of this new media ["Troubled Behaviour," Mar. 11]. Like many gurus, the Net is full of pseudo-bonanza for cyber-commerce.

Many people don't understand that cybermedia is not mass media. And "réseautique" is not the same as "télématique." The Net, now, is not a public place to make money and the marketing is so TV-oriented that it's a shame. The convergence of TV and the World Wide Web will not happen. If you understand why there is still AM and FM radio, VHF and UHF TV, and also national newspapers and local ones, you will find a partial answer to the future of the "réseau des réseaux."

The best book to understand this new media is the one written by a real genius (not virtual): Marshall McLuhan's Mutations 1990.

--Joseph M. McMurray

Racist bard

Juliet Waters' review of Shylock got me thinking ["Shakespeare in hate," Mar. 11]. First off, what exactly is a "racist text"? Does this mean the text supports or proposes racism as a viable or laudable activity? Or does it mean that the text no longer conforms to a contemporary view of particular race issues? Historicizing a text (as it would appear Shylock does) means placing it in a context distinct from that of the historicizer, hopefully leaving contemporary ethical issues out of the picture. To then turn around and tar an older text as "racist" seems to me Bad Faith Academics.

To say Merchant of Venice presents Shylock in such a manner as to make him a villain--and specifically a Jewish villain--is inarguable. And I think Ms Walters' question about why the text survives is a good one, the one we must always ask with regards to the study of literature.

But her comment that it is because Shakespeare is famous and studied--and not necessarily the best--seems wrongheaded. To ask why Merchant survives is the same as asking why Shakespeare is famous and studied. It inevitably leads to the still-unshakable perception that Shakespeare is the best writer in the English language, and that there is no other single writer, in any language, who compares for breadth, invention and persuasive representation. Merchant is still produced because it continues to unsettle and perplex us.

Any number of plays produced in this century "explored" anti-Semitism and racism in general. Almost none have survived their decade. The question of "why some racist texts survive" can perhaps best be answered by the consideration that Merchant is far more disturbing and strange than the term "racist text" would allow. The problem with Shakespeare, especially in these overdetermined days, is that he refuses to lie down and let us interpret him to our liking. He doesn't allow answers, only more and more possibilities.

--Adam Barken

Cop watching

Thanks to Philip Preville for last week's coverage of police brutality and Gabriella Pedicelli's book When Police Kill ["Cops aren't bad, they're just trained that way," Mar. 11]. While he finds it "provocative" and "contentious" to claim that police brutality is normal and predictable, he at least allowed Pedicelli to explain how strong police solidarity is.

As an an activist with Citizens Opposed to Police Brutality, I would go much further: there exists within police forces a code of silence as powerful as one finds in other violent organizations, such as the mob. This paramilitary mentality makes the police and other repressive organizations like the secret service, CSIS, notoriously unaccountable. The history of labour activism, anti-war and social reform movements shows that state-sponsored violence and subterfuge is a real threat to people's lives, their civil liberties and democratic processes.

Last week, I stopped to watch a man being arrested on St-Laurent. I was standing at least 10 feet away, and the cops ordered me to move on. I avoided a loitering fine by pacing back and forth, but overheard a cop swearing about me to his partner.

Cops are public employees, doing their job in public. Given the SPCUM's record of racist violence and killings, it's more than OK to stop and watch. The cops shouldn't get all hostile if they're "simply doing their jobs."

--Bernard Cooper

Hot dog erratum

The resto review of March 4, titled "Hot dog hangover," stated that Au Coin Doré (1220 St-Laurent) uses Coorsh hot dogs. According to Jacques Daoust of Lester Foods Ltd, the establishment switched to Lesters hot dogs on February 5, 1999.