Comments on: Life: America’s best minds (?) miss the mark on Haiti http://adriennewrites.net/2010/01/18/life-americas-best-minds-miss-the-mark-on-haiti/ A writer's ruminations on love, life and journalism Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:44:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: adriennethewriter http://adriennewrites.net/2010/01/18/life-americas-best-minds-miss-the-mark-on-haiti/#comment-66 Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:43:02 +0000 http://adriennewrites.net/?p=372#comment-66 An addendum…You are exactly right that people have the right to disagree with my thoughts. And since you are an editor, as my colleague in the profession you ought to know that it’s a writer’s job to bring such disagreements to bear in words. It’s called intellectual or literary discourse, which any editor worth salt would understand. Whether or not you would spike my piece is of no consequence here since I wasn’t pitching or writing for you or your audience. I was entering my own opinion into the space as is my right. Clearly you disagree, which is your right, and that makes neither of us right or wrong.

Oh, and by the way, it’s “duped” not “dupped”.

]]> By: Regina Clarkson http://adriennewrites.net/2010/01/18/life-americas-best-minds-miss-the-mark-on-haiti/#comment-65 Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:44:28 +0000 http://adriennewrites.net/?p=372#comment-65 Whoa. I clicked on your link in the listserv email you recently sent and–whoa. Just because someone has a different opinion than you do doesn’t make her a “racist, self-serving, anti-Black/African, so-called intellectual.” (And for the record, I’m a black woman who didn’t agree with the writer’s first post.) Writers are supposed to be discerning with their words. They’re supposed to understand detail and nuance–not paint with a broad brush and dismiss what is a valid argument: How do we help homeless in America, and why isn’t there as much urgency to help our neighbors as there is to help other nations? She never said she was “tired” of helping Haiti, and I didn’t read a “disturbing number” of responses that agreed with her comments.

I’m an editor at a magazine, and if a writer submitted a piece that demonstrated this kind of inattention to detail and sloppy analysis, I’d kill it. Immediately.

And I agree with you that if we want change, we have to change. It’s not the government’s job to fix our problems, and I believe that a good portion of our problem comes from the fact that we’ve been dupped by politicians eager to get elected who say they’ll fix X or Y or Z problem. So instead of thinking of ourselves as problem-solvers and change-makers, we’ve made ourselves into dependent people who turn a blind eye because someone else is going to help our neighbors.

You seem really eager to throw your fellow alumni under the bus for the sake of a sensationalized post. That’s too bad–and kind of sad.

And by the way, it’s “tenets,” not “tenants.”

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