Letter to The Editor

[Cawdorian]

In today's "Atlanta Journal Constitution" there is a "Letter to the Ediitor" chastising one of the Sunday editorial columnists for stating that Scotland's only contributions to the world were "Golf and Kilts". The comments were brought about by a discussion of the Olympic Curling Team.

Maybe someone with more computer talent than I have can pull both the original column and the letter up and post them for the group to read. The editorial writer in question is Cynthia Tucker, the column appeared last Sunday, both can be found at www.ajc.com.

[Colin]

Sounds like a pretty ignorant comment to me. Maybe Todd (the local librarian at Xmarks) can give some pointers on a good rebutal. Somehow I don't think anyone that closeminded is really going to listen to any valid comments though. Maybe if we taught Paris Hilton how to read and write and than had her send them, the editor would listen

[Cawdorian]

The Letter to the Editor was an excellent rebuttal.

[mddock58]

Winter Games on sinking sand
Olympics can't outskate, outski global warming

Published on: 02/22/06
Despite the triumph of Shani Davis, the first black person to win an individual gold medal in the Winter Olympics, some observers still believe the Winter Games are too white — you know, all that snow and ice. It's hard to muster much diversity when the sports demand proximity to the North Pole.
Indeed, the Winter Games exclude much of the planet. While 10,000 athletes from more than 200 nations generally participate in the Summer Games, according to The Washington Post, only 2,500 competitors from 87 countries are skating, skiing and skidding through the Turin Olympics. Not every nation has access to iced-over ponds and snowy mountain passes. Some of the more arid countries harvest only tiny quantities of sequins and spandex; often a nation's entire crop is insufficient for even one ice-skating costume.

Besides, residents of sunnier zones are unlikely to get excited over some of the odder winter sports. You have to live in a most unfriendly climate to get drunk enough to take the lid off one of your mother's heavy cooking pots and whack it across the ice, clearing a path with your mother's broom. Curling was apparently invented by the Scots — who had already caused enough grief when they invented golf. They are also the people, you may recall, who think men look good in skirts. (The fact that some do is immaterial.)
The weirdness factor in the Winter Games may help explain why NBC has drawn anemic ratings for its Olympic broadcasts this season. Let's face it: "American Idol," which has trounced the Olympics in viewership, is a competitive event accessible across all sorts of cultural and demographic boundaries. Everybody gets singing (even if we don't all get Paula Abdul).
But the luge?
Except for a few letters, "luge" is nearly an anagram of "Paula Abdul," which may contribute to its goofy mysteriousness. Still, I've decided to stick with the Winter Olympics this season. After all, this could be my last chance to see a stunning curling upset. With the climate and landscape changes wrought by global warming, the champions of bizarre sports may be making their last rounds.
According to researchers meeting last week at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Greenland's glaciers are melting faster than scientists had previously believed, dumping water into the Atlantic Ocean and raising its levels. At this rate, scientists say, sea levels could rise by as much as 3 feet, inundating coastal areas.
Who knows? By 2014, there might not be enough snow and ice left on the planet; the Winter Games may become the Water Games. So curling will go the way of chariot races, and the Norwegians, the Finns and the Lithuanians will have to play basketball. (Actually, the Lithuanians have seen this coming. They came close to upsetting the U.S. basketball team two years ago and shutting them out of a medal.)
Some winter sports will translate easily to warmer climes. The snowboarding cross, clip-somebody, crash-and-burn event will be taken over by skateboarders, whose competitions have similar rules — which is to say, not many. And if those suicidal lugers insist on being strapped to a gurney whipping around a tube at 80 mph, Olympic czars can build them a giant water slide like those at big theme parks. Let them luge that.
If Dubai, where daytime temperatures can reach 120 degrees, can build a huge indoor ski resort, I'm sure engineers can find a way to accommodate downhill racers in a brave new superheated world. Just one thing: There'll be no excuse for men to wear costumes that make them look like Spiderman. In warmer weather, they'll be free to wear skimpier outfits. (That may create some disadvantages for sponsors, however, since they won't have as much clothing on which to hang their advertising. Nike tattoos, perhaps?)
Icelanders and Albanians, who have so few chances to shine — or slide and skid — on the world stage, would likely be a little put off by the prospect of the Globally Warmed Winter Games. With apologies to Thomas Friedman, they'd find themselves in a world not just hotter but also flatter — with many more competitors.
But, like globalization, global warming offers huge advantages. Although most won't actually survive it, everyone gets a day at the beach — a sunny day at that. That ought to take the sting out of it for the Russians and Kazakhstanis, who so rarely enjoy a warm day anywhere.
Besides, there's a lot to be said for a world without curling.
• Cynthia Tucker is the editorial page editor. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays.

Here's the editorial

Funny, she uses the Olympics to try to prove Global Warming!

[Colin]

Ok, Here is the rebutal

Scots deserve more credit than they get

Cynthia Tucker's column was an obvious attempt at humor ("Winter Games on sinking sand," Feb. 22).

Her reference to the Scots was a bit --- well, to be nice, let's just say insulting. She boiled down Scot contributions to civilization to golf and kilts, which she calls "skirts." She missed a few other things that Scots have brought us, such as the telephone, ATMs, car tires, postage stamps, harvesting machines, the decimal point, central banking, radar, television, penicillin, oil refining, the kaleidoscope, the blackboard, time zones, discovery of insulin, criminal fingerprinting, the ultrasound and the American steel industry, among others.

Scots deserve some slack about having invented curling. At some point, a people has to take time to rest between civilization-saving accomplishments.

At least Tucker admits that she is attracted to some men in kilts. As with many women, the modern version of the ancient garment curiously arouses such feelings that they do things such as making pointless references in newspaper columns. Her reference to golf sufficed.

Perhaps we should make March "Scot History Month" to build a richer understanding of the people who brought us the modern world. Oh, did I not mention the whisky?

JIM SUTHERLAND, Atlanta

The Letter to the Editor was an excellent rebuttal.

You are right, that was a good rebutal.

[bubba]

Can't read either. They want information I'm not willing to give them before they allow entrance to the site.

[Cawdorian]

I'll scan the letter and try to send it tonight.

[mddock58]

Colin beat me to it!

[cajunscot]

Sounds like a pretty ignorant comment to me. Maybe Todd (the local librarian at Xmarks) can give some pointers on a good rebutal. Somehow I don't think anyone that closeminded is really going to listen to any valid comments though. Maybe if we taught Paris Hilton how to read and write and than had her send them, the editor would listen

Someone needs to remind her of the Burns Cottage in Atlanta:

http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/atlanta/bur.htm

I tend to agree with Colin about her "closemindedness"; columnists like her ilk tend to "feed" on making people upset. A letter to the editor-in-chief, publisher, editiorial board, etc. might be more effective.

Todd

[Cawdorian]

Glad you got the rebuttal, the e-mail address of the paper is letters@ajc.com . Letters to be less than 150 words and include a daytime phone number for verification.

The writer is well known locally for her liberal viwepoint.