ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 11, 1997 TAG: 9704110002
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
Horrors! Kids will gobble it up
I APPLAUD the conclusion of Ian Duncan's March 20 commentary (``Books might be giving your kids more than just Goosebumps") that parents should pay attention to what their kids are reading. I dismiss virtually everything else he wrote.
He says, for instance: ``But if you tried to figure the damage Stine's books have inflicted, you would find it incalculable." Not once does Duncan cite evidence of any damage, incalculable or otherwise.
His discussions of several perceived ``dangers" of R.L. Stine's horror books for children come to nothing. Should I be frightened that reading Stine will lead to reading Stephen King? Some of King's writing is schlock, but he has also written some powerful novels (e.g., ``The Shining'' and ``The Dead Zone''). And I haven't heard of anyone who has been inspired by King to turn to a life of crime or perversity.
Does Stine ``almost without exception portray evil triumphing over good or a complete lack of plot resolution"? Does he also portray "parents as stupid, disagreeable and unbelieving" and "as being untrustworthy"? Good for him! Too many writers for children publish didactic drivel. Some parents are stupid, the good guys don't always win. And in any case, what's wrong with some reading diversity?
As a child, I used to hate books in which the hero always forgave the villain, who in turn always reformed. I hated it when the parents always knew best. Kids live their entire childhoods being told what to do, what not to do, and why they're wrong. Why can't they get a taste of something else for a change? Do we want to go beyond shaping their minds to totally controlling them? Doesn't Duncan understand that kids gobble up Stine's work precisely because of its "dangers"?
I would rather we teach children how to live, by words and by example, and then trust them.
CHIP BARNETT
FAIRFIELD
Valley's civic pride must be renewed
RETURNING to the valley several months ago after a 25-year absence, I wrote a letter to the editor expressing my observations on how Roanoke had changed. In it, I said I felt the cure to our malaise was rediscovering our proud past. Having been here for a while, it seems the problems run deeper than I had initially suspected.
A whole generation has come of age without any knowledge of the Roanoke I knew as a child. You can see it in disillusioned eyes - the reflection of a desolate downtown, of a Roanoke that's become a mall society with no central cultural core. We're a community on life support, muddleheaded and disoriented.
We must turn our efforts to attracting new investors from outside the valley, and doing all we can to foster individual enterprises here. We have much to offer. We're the spiritual inheritors of all that has been Virginia - from patriot to slave, from gandy dancer to engineer - making for an intelligent and creative work force. We can also boast of innovative public and private educational systems and a well-established network of churches, clubs and organizations - all situated in one of the most beautiful valleys on God's green earth.
Consider the overarching emotion that led past citizens to erect a symbol of their collective pride - the star on Mill Mountain that still shines brightly over our existence. Would we have the temerity to do the same today?
Pride must be rekindled so we can address economic woes and societal uncertainties, and lead the valley into the next millennium.
JOHN MURPHY
VINTON
Don't give away U.S. jobs, benefits
LOUIS P. Glenn's commentary (Feb. 21, ``Aliens will destroy America'') was the best thing that has ever hit your newspaper. It's something I've said and thought for a long time. Immigrants are taking over this country.
I can't imagine what this government is thinking (if thinking at all) by allowing all these people into this country. No wonder so many militia groups are rising up. People are sick and tired of the government selling us down the river.
Our companies shouldn't be allowed to open businesses overseas. All they're looking for is cheap labor so they can make more profit. Our country needs those jobs.
And President Clinton has the gall to suggest that federal businesses hire people to get them off of welfare. Half of them shouldn't have gone on welfare. Have they ever heard of working?
What about kids whose parents have struggled and done without to send them to college in hopes they will get decent jobs?
MARGARET O'DALE
ROANOKE
LENGTH: Medium: 90 linesby CNB