The American Spectator

Reader Mail

On the Edge of Excess

9.9.02 @ 12:01AM

VULTURE CULTURE
Re: John Corry's Scaredy-Cats:

John Corry is correct in bemoaning the devil's marriage of leftist ideology and supposed "help" for the trauma victims of 9/11. Seems pretty clear that the NEA and the psycho-vultures (you know, the "mental health professionals" who jet around looking for something bad to happen so they can be "of service") are using the tragedy to simultaneously fatten their wallets and dispense propaganda.

To make matters worse, over the past eight years or so there has been an increasing body of scientific literature that indicates such "debriefings" are at best of no help, and may well exacerbate trauma symptoms in many cases. Yep, that's right -- doesn't do any good, and probably causes some harm.

People in charge of such activities (e.g., mayors, police chiefs, etc.) would be well advised to take a good look at the scientific literature before calling in the trauma tourists.

Don't get me wrong; not all psychologists and therapists are so misguided, and I think most of the trauma tourists sincerely believe that what they do helps, scientific evidence notwithstanding. Nor would I indict the entire mental health profession (yes, I'm a Ph.D. child psychologist myself). It's just that the combination of poor science and liberal activism is toxic. But then again, hasn't that always been the case?
-- M.B.S.

CUTTING REMARKS
Re: Raoul Felder's T'ain't Funny:

Mr. Felder would have been better served if he stopped his article six or seven paragraphs earlier. His philosophy, like so often happens with many of the opposite persuasion, i.e., liberal writers, got in the way of a good factual response to Mr. Hanania's poorly conceived PR/marketing efforts.

Otherwise, I enjoy both Mr. Felder's and Mr. Mason's contributions to the Prowler as I have in the past with their humor and insights in the Spectator.
-- Joseph G. Procopio

DEATH SENTENCE
Re: Jed Babbin's Saddam Esse Delendum:

The sentence with which Cato the Elder ended each speech was Ceterum censeo Carthaginem delendam esse: "Also, I think Carthage must be destroyed." Delendam is the feminine singular accusative of the gerundive of deleo, I destroy. It is feminine because it modifies Carthago, which is feminine, and it is accusative because it is the subject of a sentence in indirect discourse; the infinitive "esse" is used for the same reason. The phrase as a stand alone sentence would be "Carthago delenda est" -- a more familiar version of the quote.

"Saddam has been destroyed" would be "Saddam deletus est," using the past participle of "deleo." "Saddam delendum est" would mean "Saddam must be destroyed" only if we assign the neuter gender to Saddam, an insult equal to Bush I's deliberate misaccentuation of the name.

Maybe you can borrow a Latin proof-reader from NRO....
-- Mike Bates

Jed Babbin replies: Thanks. Your correction is much appreciated, but your version differs with other scholars we've heard from. I have already deleted the reference book from which I got the quote from my library. All I know is that Saddam must be destroyed. Or, as you might put it, "Saddam delenda est." That's what we'll use for now

Errare est humanum.
--Matt Bartle

CLEAN-UP IN PROGRESS
Re: Bill Croke's Outré Oregon:

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Business, Law, Supreme Court