Letters: Dec. 7, 1998

(3 of 5)

It was a sheer delight to watch the results of your election. The U.S. voter indeed sent a clear message to Congressmen, puritans and a few "sex fanatics." J. HAROLDO FALCAO Rio de Janeiro

NOT A TRIVIALIZATION

Your critic said that Roberto Benigni's film Life Is Beautiful [CINEMA, Nov. 9] "trivializes the horror of the Holocaust." If anybody in the movie industry did so, it was Steven Spielberg, not Benigni. In Schindler's List, Spielberg managed to produce a film more real than reality--in black-and-white, with invented dialogue and a melodramatic, good old American ending--that actually competes with the unbearable mass of filmed documentaries. Benigni, on the other hand, does not try to reinvent reality; he comes up with the brilliant idea that while one cannot escape the horror, one can spare his child from it by presenting reality as a theater stage.

Of course, it's fiction, and we know things didn't happen this way in the death camps, but what a generous idea! Benigni thinks that, faced with such an unthinkable nightmare, anyone concerned about a child's mental future would disguise reality as a hide-and-seek game. Benigni has got guts, and he talks to us. Spielberg is a businessman. JEAN-PATRICK KRIEF Mount-Royal, Que.

MICROSOFT UNDER ATTACK

In this era of computer modernization, the monopolization of the industry could mean everything, so one can see why the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust division is suing Microsoft and Bill Gates [BUSINESS, Nov. 2]. It is hard to understand why we have put so much trust in Gates, who seemingly has misused his share of the global computer industry to attempt to topple other companies that have great potential. Computer geniuses should try to help others, not take advantage of them. MARK WONG Sarawak, Malaysia

SUPPORT PAYS OFF

In your item "Celebrities On the Stump: How They Fared" [POLITICAL WATCH, Nov. 16], you reported that Barbra Streisand supported two candidates who won and two who lost. In fact, Streisand actually gave funds to support the campaigns of 36 candidates, 27 of whom won. Streisand also endorsed 194 candidates on her website, and 155 of them were elected. In both instances, that is a win-loss ratio of nearly 80%. MARTIN ERLICHMAN, Manager Barbra Streisand Beverly Hills, Calif.

ADVANCING "US GIRLS"

As a longtime Hillary Clinton fan, I find it extremely refreshing to see that she is finally getting her just rewards [ELECTION REPORT, Nov. 16]. Now the right-wing Republican machine can no longer make bright, articulate women into pariahs. Based on Hillary's performance in the 1998 elections, maybe Democrats should look toward a Gore-Clinton ticket for 2000, the Clinton of that team being Hillary. MICHAEL R. BROWN New Rochelle, N.Y.

For their borderline stink-o performance during the congressional election, Hillary Clinton and Tipper Gore deserve a "Red Neck Girl" award. Neither succeeded in advancing us girls to equal representation with our men in the U.S. Congress. So as not to upset their husbands' buddies, Hillary and Tipper saw to it that our Congress stayed wall-to-wall redneck good ole boys. VIRGINIA ("BLUE JEANS") JENNER Wagoner, Okla.

SPIDER-MAN'S CO-CREATORS