Letters to the Editor

by the Readers

The King and Us

To Mr./Ms. Editor, Philadelphia City Paper, or should I call it Philadelphia TRASH? I believe your mailbox is flooded with e-mails from many Thais who are in anger regarding your Saint Jack's ad by now. I'm one of them. I believe that being a media, you should be able to understand the differences between cultures. And treat them respectfully.

So don't be like tyrant Americans, who think that they're so good that they don't have to care about anyone else in the world. A tyrant like that may be the cause of 9/11 incident.

You don't want something like that in Philly, do you?

Anupong Torranin
via e-mail

I am very disappointed to see the picture of our beloved king published in this disrespectful fashion. And I strongly believe that almost 100 percent of Thai people would feel the same way because as everyone said, he is our god.

I understand that the person who did this didn't have any negative intention toward us or might have only very slight idea what she was doing. But please stop publishing this picture and please formally make some kind of apology for the incident, since you already know how hurtful this is to us, Thai people.

If you continue to advertise this, I really don't know the degree of the negative consequence this would cost. I hope that you would think about this and do something about it. I am sure if your intention was sincere, we would be nice enough to forgive and make some effort to forget what happened.

Dr. Chanida Siripraparat
via e-mail

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Matters of Faith

(Re: Cover story, "Islam Inside," Daryl Gale, June 27, 2002)

I would like to remind Minister Muhammad that in the last 11 years in three separate parts of the globe (Kuwait, Somalia and Serbia), America has defended Muslim people against outside aggressors.

Muhammad rightly condemns any anti-Muslim backlash since Sept. 11; but then he attempts to justify the attacks and the endless suicide bombings in Israel by claiming to "understand" the motives behind it. How is it that Muhammad can understand "the rage and frustration" of Arabs and Palestinians, but cannot do so when it comes to Americans who have witnessed the mass murder of their fellow citizens and are then not allowed to respond to such an atrocity?

Joseph Chudzinski
Philadelphia

While I disagree with much of what the Nation of Islam stands for, I can understand their displeasure with the way they are being monitored by the government and treated by the media. As a practicing Roman Catholic, I was disappointed with the way my religion was slandered by an overzealous press that seemed more interested in changing the laws and teachings of the Church than in reporting the facts about the recent scandal. Islam and Catholicism are peaceful religions. I hate to see them portrayed in a negative light because of the misdeeds of a few.

Donovan Farr
via e-mail

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