Octopus lessons
The Oscar for best documentary went to Netflix’s trailblazing documentary “My Octopus Teacher.” The documentary chronicles a complex relationship between a man and world’s most bizarre animal — an octopus. It testifies to our conflicted relationship with animals.
Our allegiance to our pets transcends that to members of our own species. If our dog and a Congolese child were competing for life-saving surgery, the dog would live.
Yet, we torment, kill and consume other animals who are similar in appearance, intelligence and ability to suffer. Then, we condemn Asians who do the same to animals we consider pets.
We pride ourselves on being intelligent, rational beings. Yet we still have not figured out our relationship with non-human animals.
Some of us have. Vegans profess compassion and respect for all sentient beings. Every one of us can become one on our next trip to our supermarket.
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Tyson Dasher
East side
Offended by pro-life argument
Re: the May 4 letter “Blackman not pro-life.”
The letter writer states, “I’m assuming he was willing, in Iraq, to kill the children of Iraqi mothers who would grow up to be soldiers.” What an asinine assumption to make. Which, by the way has nothing to do with the sponsored bill.
No military person I know of ever wanted to kill children. This was bad enough in Vietnam, but this kind of thinking is way out of bounds. If you were my M.D. I would have called and fired you today. I served from 1970 through 1991, and I don’t appreciate those kind of ill-conceived comments especially by a health-care provider.
Jerry Ferguson
East side
Questions for bigots
A bigot is a horrible thing to be. Hatred is evil. Love is good.
If you hate any group, you are a bigot. If you demonize or stereotype any group, you are a bigot.
Message for bigots: All 7 billion-plus humans on earth and in space belong to the same species: Homosapiens. All humans are of equal worth to God.
Questions for bigots: Did it every occur to you that your ideas could be mistaken? Who or what do you consider to be authority and why? (It helps to question all authority.) Why do you feel threatened by people who are different from you?
These questions are to get people to start thinking instead of just reacting.
Flora Frederick
Midtown
Ignorant Republicans
The Republicans must be, overall, an ignorant lot.
For more than a year, we have all endured the COVID pandemic. One of the pluses coming out of it is we all got to meet Dr. Anthony Fauci. Fauci told us the truth about the pandemic, as much as he was allowed to because of pressure from his boss. People responded to his truth-telling positively for the most part. People knew they could depend on him.
Funny how his lesson of truth doesn’t pervade politics. In the case of Rep. Liz Cheney, she is held up to ridicule because she doesn’t go along with the former guy and his big lie, the same person who sought to silence Fauci. She tells the truth, and she will lose because of it. Apparently, Republicans don’t want to work for a living. And they don’t want to work for the public either. They just want to cheat their way through a worthless career.
Cathy Smith
Sierra Vista
Maricopa vote recount
Joe Biden won the 2020 election by 7 million votes resulting in an electoral college win of 306 to 232. All 50 states, including Arizona, certified their results. Several states conducted recounts, which did not change these results. No legal challenges in courts changed this. These are all facts.
We have a former, defeated president, Donald Trump, still insisting that he won the election. This is an outrageous lie. But it is a lie supported by too many Republicans including the Arizona State Senate.
The Senate majority is now conducting their own audit of the Maricopa County votes, in the hands of Cyber Ninjas. This is clearly an answer still in search of a question because the answer already determined is not the answer the Arizona Senate majority wants.
This is an embarrassment for the State of Arizona. It is also a danger to democracy because, in a democracy, the losing side accepts the results and moves on.
Brian Templet
East side
Did you vote?
When does a vote not count? When the Tucson City Council votes to override a voter-approved measure, i.e. Reid Park Zoo expansion/masterplan.
Steve Early
Midtown
Warp speed vaccine
Operation Warp Speed was announced by the Trump White House in May 2020. Leaders from pharmaceutical companies, vaccine developers and the U.S. military were brought together to quickly, but safely develop COVID vaccines.
The federal government funded the manufacturing of three billion vaccines from the best contenders, way before they were approved by the FDA. A billion needles and syringes, as well as tens of millions of vials were acquired. The Defense Production Act was used 18 times. Emergency approval of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines was granted in mid and late December. And yes, there was a comprehensive plan for vaccine delivery. The CDC enrolled UPS, FedEx, CVC, Walgreens, etc. as distributors of the vaccines.
The biased news media pooh-poohed Operation Warp Speed and doubted whether a COVID vaccine could be safely developed by the end of 2020. The Biden administration has done the easier part well in distributing Trump’s Operation Warp Speed vaccines.
Gusher Adams
Midtown
City office of equity
Re: the May 5 article “City equity office puts cart before the horse.”
Bravo to City Council members Lane Santa Cruz and Karin Uhlich and Mayor Regina Romero, for supporting and moving forward with the city Office of Equity.
The need for this is well-stated in Tim Steller’s piece. Jamie Utt-Schumacher says, “The reason this is so important is that no matter how great our intentions might be … we can still make choices that invest in systems that were built to serve the idea of whiteness” (and I would add, the systems and structures of white supremacy).
As Santa Cruz says, “we need to normalize these conversations even when they feel uncomfortable.” That’s the way to truly begin to serve the needs of all community members in Tucson.
Sarah Roberts
West side
