Himmler not humorous

The Holocaust isn't funny. Impersonating dead war criminals isn't funny. Lining people against the wall and shooting them because of their race, religion or sexual orientation isn't funny, either. The editor of the Rant Line™ went far beyond the limits of good taste and appropriate public discourse by including the "Himmler" bit in the column last week [March 25].

» Paul Hebert

Shades of Gray

Your portrayal of the interim president of Alliance Quebec, Rev. Darryl Gray, ["Prodigal son," Feb. 26] exposes one most interesting thing about him: he perceives discrimination and prejudice in grades.

According to Rev. Gray, blacks are "fighting on two fronts" because of the colour of their skin and the language they speak. I suppose, then, those who are non-white, non-Christian and allophone are worse off than black anglophones - of course, throw in someone's gender and a disability or two and you deserve a prize. By not seeing all forms of prejudice and, thus, all people equally, how can Rev. Gray claim he speaks for anyone except his own community, a sliver of the greater black community?

Neither Alliance Quebec nor its leadership should divide English-speakers or Québécois but, instead, work to build alliances and destroy the obstacles that divide us. By categorizing people as easily as he has, Rev. Gray is telling us that his tenure will be marked by the further marginalization of Alliance Quebec - drifting further from mainstream Quebec society and deeper into the obscure Anglo ghetto.

Rev. Martin Luther King's values and ideas, which transcended issues of race, religion and social status while advocating peaceful, non-violent protests, stand in sharp contrast to Rev. Gray's angry rhetoric of victimization.

» Deepak Awasti

Incredulously debatable

Further to reader R. Jay's comment [Letters, March 4], the term "incredulously" does actually seem to exist. Adjectives are permitted to be used as adverbs by adding "ly."

According to the fully unabridged Thorndike-Barnhardt dictionary, on which I have unfailingly relied since its publication in 1962, the following entries can be found:

• incredulous (adj) 1. not ready to believe; not credulous; doubting: "People nowadays are incredulous about ghosts and witches" 2. showing a lack of belief: "Father heard the tramp's story with an incredulous smile" ... incredulously (adv), incredulousness (n) - See incredible for usage note

• incredible (adj) seeming too extraordinary to be possible; beyond belief: "The hero fought with incredible bravery"… - Incredible, incredulous are not synonymous. Incredible means unbelievable; incredulous means unbelieving: "His story of having seen a ghost seemed incredible to his family. If they look incredulous, show them the evidence."

By the above, one could infer that it should be appropriate to recast the second half of the last usage as: "If they smile incredulously, show them the evidence."

I have checked three other dictionaries, one of which did not show "incredulously" as an acceptable adverbial form; however, the Oxford dictionary did show it as a valid entry. Obviously it depends on the depth into which your dictionary goes.

The reader's point, more broadly speaking, that Rick Trembles, the writer to whom he was originally referring used "incredulously" incorrectly, probably stands; I did not read the original article in question [Motion Picture Purgatory, Feb. 26]. I am writing to correct the blanket comment that R. Jay was attempting to communicate to your readership otherwise (that "incredulously" is not an acceptable form). In fact, both writers are wrong in their own right. It's always a good idea to make sure one is aware of the relevance and applicability of one's approach when making critiques.

» C. Harwood

RIP Tooker

I was very saddened by the recent apparent suicide of environmentalist Tooker Gomberg (a Montreal native) and wish you would have covered his passing in detail. I was also very disappointed that most daily newspapers in this country made scarce mention of his demise.

Why is it okay to ignore the environment when the earth's soil, water supply and air continue to grow more polluted with each passing week and deforestation continues to accelerate worldwide? Eventually the planet will no longer be hospitable to humans because we continue to gravely mutilate the environment. Already cancer rates and environment-related illnesses (like asthma, lung cancer, etc.) are soaring worldwide. Were it not for pioneering people like Gomberg, the pace of environmental degradation would only accelerate manifold.

Corporations and people in general need to stop treating the planet as though we have a spare one in the trunk. It would be a good idea for the media to make the environment a top issue in the upcoming federal election campaign. How I only wish more people would have supported Gomberg while he was alive!

» Manish Patwari

Correction:

In last week's cover story on Harry Mayerovitch ["Wild about Harry," March 25], the caption below a photo of Mayerovitch with NFB founder John Grierson incorrectly identifies each man as the other.

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