By MODERN TIMES BY LLOYD GARVER
It’s that time again — time for me to share with you some of the comments that readers have sent me in response to my columns. Enjoy...
In a recent column, I talked about a man who is suing Michael Jordan and Nike because he’s tired of being mistaken for Jordan. Your comments included: JEANNE: “This one, you must have made up!”
TAMMY: “People actually wonder why the courts are so tied up and why insurance rates are so high. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm... maybe I should sue Mr. Heckard for pain and suffering. I laughed so hard at him, I pulled a neck muscle. I hear soft tissue injuries pay big bucks.”
I discussed the difficulty in buying a simple cell phone.
JERRY: “At last, a subject that is neither liberal nor conservative... if they didn’t have all the extra features, the phone companies could hand out these phones for free the way they did when I was a kid.”
JEFF: “When I asked for the simplest phone they had, it came with a 100-page instruction book and sounds like the Boston symphony. Whatever happened to “Ring, ring?”
I wrote about the traumatic experience of my first $3-a-gallon fill-up DAVE: “Last fall, I had a knee operation which kept me driving for six weeks. During the time I was (convalescing), gas prices dropped. Sure enough, they began to rise a couple weeks after I returned to work.”
AAR: “It’s called supply and demand. And you suggest that we become more like socialist France, where they pay around $7 per gallon. Come on, get a clue.”
I expressed my dismay about why so many people were taking a work of fiction, “The Da Vinci Code,” so seriously.
THOMAS: “As I watch the controversy around this book/movie, all I can think of is Oscar Wilde. In the preface to ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray,’ he said, ‘There’s no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all.’”
ED: “The more his book gets banned, the more copies he will sell.”
ALAN: “Please note the best novels are often used to propound a theory or teach a lesson about the human condition, not just tell a story. See ‘Les Miserables’ and ‘War and Peace.’ I doubt this novel is on that level,yet it may not be meant just to be taken as an interesting story, but to bring attention to a theory.”
After my recent trip to France, I noticed how much more likely Parisians were to wish me a “good morning” than those back home in the good ol’ U.S.A.
ARTHUR: “No one knows anymore how to speak politely and sincerely. I must tell you it ****es me off.”
SHERVONNE: “Come to Texas... (Greeting people) is one of our traditions. Perhaps we’re not as afraid of people as the folks in your area may be.”
DIETTER: “I believe that it is cultural. Black folks, I am one, greet each other all the time... I’ve tried to extend the ‘hi’ to random folks of other races. I’m usually left hanging.”
KATE: “If you come to Tennessee, you will hear plenty of ‘Good Mornings.’”
CSS: “If you go to a relatively small town, one that’s viewed as ‘safe,’ lots of people will say, ‘good morning.’”
In ‘Betsy Ross would be so proud,’ I discussed the proposal for the “flag burning” Amendment.
NANCY: “Contrary to the pompously patriotic, no one has ever died for the flag — they died to defend the freedoms it represents.”
CHIP: “If cigarette smoking is illegal in many places, shouldn’t flag smoking be illegal in those places, too?”
“Flag smoking?” Well, Chip, who could argue with that logic?
Thanks for all the e-mails. Keep them coming. (Lloyd Garver has written for many television shows, ranging from “Sesame Street” to “Family Ties” to “Frasier.” He has also read many books, some of them in hardcover. He writes the “Modern Times” column for CBSnews.com’s Opinion page and and a weekly column for SportsLine.com.)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 29, 2006. Read the original PDF.