Sports Rage misses net

Hey, Gabriel Morency, I just finished reading your column [Sports Rage, Oct. 9]. Since when does Quebecor print columns that wouldn't make it into a high school paper? Okay I guess that's a bad question, but is that really the best you can do? You almost make Jack Todd look professional. Well okay, that's a little over the top.

Speaking of tops, what's up with the toque? Lice problem? Next time you write a column try making it interesting. You brought up nothing new and that shot at coach Claude Julien was uncalled for. If you want to take a shot at the man because of his appearance I would recommend that you think twice since you, sir, are in a glass house at the moment.

» Danny Perez

Jews, Arabs and victimhood

Dana Abbab's reply to Eric Scott offers some hope, but mostly winds up being depressing [Letters, Oct. 2]. You can't begin to solve a problem when you don't even recognize it. Abbab presents us with a wonderful life in old Iraq and Palestine before the Zionists screwed things up. Jews, Muslims and Christians lived together in harmony, one would believe. I don't doubt that on a personal level that was often true, but it is greatly misleading.

Christians and Jews were always dhimmy-worthy of some respect, but definitely second class. Still, that was better than in many places. But when Israel had the chutzpah to become independent, all that changed in a flash.

There are over 25,000 Montrealers who are refugees from Arab "justice" that Abbab could consult or the various organizations of Sephardi Jews, who can testify to the joys of life in the Arab world in those days.

I was married to one of them. Her uncle's family fled Egypt in 1948 after vengeful Arabs burned their property because of Israeli independence. They lost much of their belongings, but saved some. Three siblings figured it would pass. Two of them, including my ex-wife's family, were given 48 hours to leave Egypt with what they could pack in a few suitcases after the Suez War. All other property was seized. This after living in Egypt for ages. One stayed yet longer. Their son was placed in a concentration camp without trial for three years after the 1967 war, accused of being an Israeli spy. He was an airline ticket agent.

The community is filled with these tales. Just ask. The sad part is that without recognizing the injustices done to Jews in Arab lands, there will be no attempt to find a solution on the part of likeminded Arabs. The Palestinians are at least as much a victim of their own leaders as they are of Israelis. Israelis have much to do as well, but until Palestinians give up any attempt to return to Israel, destroy or secularize it, to get Israel to pay for the refugee problem that is theirs after having done so for the Jewish victims of Arab injustice, and to try to kill Israelis into surrender, there can be no peace.

And true peace is so desperately needed in that part of the world.

» Ken Frankel

Montreal mosaic

I have travelled from coast to (almost) coast, and I've consistently come across the same bland Anglo-Saxon rhetoric across "English" Canada concerning Quebec. Anglo, Franco, or other-we mention that we're Québécois and we're automatically dismissed as dissidents.

Here in Montreal we're mindful of each other's ethnicity, religious beliefs and creed. We don't always get along, but there's still respect. But I'm confused as to what Mr. Gravenor would determine an Anglo Quebecer [Kristian Perspective, Sept. 18]. I myself come from a rich genetic-ethnic history including Native Canadian, Jewish and Irish with a dash of May West and Pepsi thrown in for good measure. And we know that Montreal is filled with many people who similarly defy definition of their persona.

What Gravenor determines to be Anglo-Quebecer culture is really a culture unique to Quebec and Montreal in particular. This city is a quilt, and cultures will eventually bleed together. They will overlap until you have something purely unique. We may vary in our goals but in the end this is what we leave to our children to both cherish and define. What ultimately may need to be nurtured is a Montreal culture.

» Frank Maurice Boivin

Mirror in plastic bags?

I write this in full support of Benjamin Hatcher for his long-overdue condemnation of the Mirror [Letters, Oct. 9]. Gross impropriety is evident not only on your covers but frequently and at random on the inside, manifesting itself in obscene language and explicit sexual images.

Now that's not necessarily wrong. But as Hatcher pointed out, this publication is free and easily accessible-unlike Playboy or Penthouse. Keeping those pornographic examples in mind, the solution is simple: limit the availability of the Mirror to that same degree of restriction, or undertake an editorial revolution of thorough self-censorship.

Of course my suggestion may well fall on deaf editors-or have you just grown incapable of embarrassment? Alas, the shame you no longer feel is a reflection of the treasure you no longer possess.

» L.S. Cattarini

Correction:

On the Oct. 9 Artsweek page, credit should have been given to the director and co-producer of Black Rock Burning, Kim Barr.

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