Unfettered Letters

A reel message for real change

After recently watching the remake of “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” I have to believe that the overwhelming theme of the movie is more relevant today than it was back in the 1950s.

Governments have risen and fallen, economic instability comes and goes, and the band just marches on. But one thing that hasn’t changed is the constant inhumanity to our fellow man.

In the movie, when threatened with world extinction, we hear the phrase “we can change.” Change to what? Possibly more inhumane treatment of others?

Wars, civil rights violations, starving children, corruption — it shouldn’t take the threat of global annihilation by an alien race to wake everyone up to the fact that with the exception of a few animal species, we are the only ones to make war upon ourselves.

We are killing ourselves and our future. I hope that we are not standing at the precipice before we decide to make a real change.

Paul M. Lickteig
Raytown

Hey, Hollywood: ‘Retard’ hurtful

There has been significant media attention to protests surrounding the new movie “Tropic Thunder” and its misguided use of a term that is inaccurate and offensive to many people: “retard.”

The Arc of the United States — Missouri Chapter is certainly displeased by the use of this term in any setting, especially one that will be viewed by millions of people. The term is a very sensitive issue for people with developmental disabilities, their parents and advocacy groups.

The Arc understands that the term was used as an attempt at humor. Nonetheless, it demonstrates a severe lack of sensitivity for people with developmental disabilities who are often subjected to the derogatory use of the term. It would be a simple show of respect for the movie industry to recognize the harmful implications associated with this word.

This should be a learning experience for the movie industry and the public at large: Words that offend and demean people are not funny — in any context.

Mike Hanrahan
President, Arc of the United States — Missouri Chapter
Cameron, Mo.

The ‘R-word’ isn’t funny

It is time that The Star and its readers help take a stand against a word that has gained popularity in culture but is offensive to so many. The “R-word,” or “retard,” has found a place in common language and seems to be accepted by many. In fact, it is said 16 times in one scene in the new film “Tropic Thunder.” The word hurts, even if it is not directed at a person with intellectual disabilities.

For too long, people with intellectual disabilities have had to overcome society’s stereotypes. It is time for a change, and you can help show Hollywood that it is time they understand the impact of their actions.

To learn more about how you can be a fan of dignity, visit www.r-word.org.

Nancy Walker
Grandview

Wanted: Daily movie listings

Letter writer Janeen Aggen (8/5) misses the listings of movie showtimes in the FYI section on the days they don’t run. I, too, detest not being able to quickly see what time a show is and where it is playing to compare time and distance.

Last week I was in Lee’s Summit and finished an appointment early. I thought about seeing a show, but the paper, which I’d brought with me to read, had no listings. I could have driven to the theater in Lee’s Summit, only to find it had begun 20 minutes earlier, and by doing so, not have time to get to the one in Independence that started 30 minutes later.

My decision: I went to Barnes & Noble and bought a book.

Gingy Lebold
Alma, Mo.

Missing movie showtime listings

Is anyone else annoyed by the recent decision by some local theater chains to forgo print movie listings in FYI some days of the week? Instead, they refer you to their Web site or the dreaded movie phone line.

While I am, in fact, over 50, I do have and use both a computer and cell phone regularly. However, I like to be able to look quickly and easily at all the films and times offered without having to go online or wade through the detested automated phone menus. I want side-by-side comparisons.

My husband and I recently decided to see “Mamma Mia!” on very short notice. It took more than five minutes on the phone to find the information we needed. I was so frustrated that I decided the next time we want to see a movie, we’ll just pick another theater that cares more about its viewers than its bottom line.

Yes, I know popcorn prices are up, but if you can’t pay for newspaper listings, raise the price of each ticket by a nickel.

Janeen Aggen
Lenexa

Korean War documentary

On June 25, the anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War, Korean War veterans were privileged to view the documentary film premiere showing of “Korea, the Forgotten War.”

The film was very well researched and told the truth of what the American GIs went through in the so-called police action.

On behalf of the Korean War veterans, I would like to thank the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum for providing the auditorium, the Carson-Speaks Funeral Home for sponsoring and Larry Cappetto for researching and producing the film.

Mr. Cappetto has spent very much time getting the facts straight. And I heard many veterans comment that this film should be shown on prime-time television so the younger generation would know what the senior citizens have gone through so they can live in a free world.

Carl Todd
Pleasant Hill

Vexed by too much ‘Sex’

I’ve had it up to here with sex … but not lately.

Yuk, yuk. But seriously, folks, it’s no laughing matter. As a society, we’re way past that slippery slope. We’re tumbling headlong into the abyss of amorality.

The latest affront is all the attention being given to “Sex and the City.” I realize that the television show from whence it sprang was a monster hit, but that doesn’t absolve the producers, writers and actors from sending a disturbingly wrong message on sexuality. It only highlights their desire to cash in on the prurient interests of the ignorant masses.

I guess I don’t understand all the hoopla about four youthful, successful and rich women flagrantly discussing their bedroom antics amongst themselves.

I’m no prude. I’ve had my share of “antics,” some very stupid, wrong and hurtful. But I don’t lay it all out for the world to drool over. Why do we feel so compelled to listen, watch and now read about a tasteless torrent of time-wasting titillation?

Further, I admit I’ve never seen the show. The title alone is enough to turn me off.

Timothy Earl Osburn
Parkville

‘Expelled’ movie review

The Star’s reviewers showed their unwillingness to objectively cover the documentary, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.” Their articles are riddled with fallacies and misstatements, belittling the participants and all the while avoiding the evidence presented.

In one article (4/17, Preview, “Truth isn’t always the point”) The Star’s movie critic gives credence to an obscure Web site’s assumption that the position of “Expelled” can’t be valid because its production company made other films for “faith and family.”

A review (4/18, FYI, “Anti-evolution screed lacks intelligence”) lambastes Ben Stein, “a Nixon administration functionary who reinvented himself,” yet fails to mention that Stein is a Yale-trained lawyer, an economist and a university professor.

These movie critics’ clear siding with evolutionists is very unfortunate. Thinking people will view the documentary and be disturbed at the refusal of media and academics to forthrightly discuss all the evidence and information.

Janet Harmon
Overland Park

After viewing the documentary “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” I found Roger Moore’s movie review contains much that lacks intelligence itself, especially when the author states that the scientist interviewees were possibly chosen for their eccentric appearances.

He is apparently unaware that Richard Dawkins, for example, was surely selected by Ben Stein because Dawkins, regardless of his looks, is a prominent atheistic scientist who is virulently opposed to intelligent design. Stein’s documentary becomes hilarious when Dawkins is filmed admitting to Stein that life on Earth could be the result of intelligent design as long as the designer was a being from outer space who was himself the product of atheistic evolution.

Stein used his skills acquired as a Yale-trained trial lawyer to meticulously build the case — using the testimonies of highly credentialed scientists such as Richard Sternberg, formerly a Smithsonian magazine editor, and Guillermo Gonzales, an astronomy professor at Iowa State University — that a scientist, no matter his credentials, risks losing his job if he questions Darwinism.

Mr. Moore amusingly stamps these testimonies as from the “under-credentialed” when his own scientific credentials deserve a big question mark.

Eulea Tharp
Blue Springs

Editor’s note: Because the makers of “Expelled” declined to show the film in advance to newspaper reviewers, The Star ran the only review of the film available through its news services — a pan by Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel.

Science and evolution

I was very interested to learn about Ben Stein’s soon-to-be released movie “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” (4/14, Local, “Actor holds special viewing of film for state lawmakers”).

Its topic is evolution, and something I have been aware of for years: Science today has been hijacked by naturalism and atheism.

Today scientists say that by definition science has to exclude all but naturalistic causation in research, so it precludes even considering any scientific facts that point towards life and the universe showing evidence of purposeful design.

Stein’s movie examines the censorship by the science establishment of any evidence outside the naturalistic box that science has put the universe in.

The father of the modern scientific method, Francis Bacon, considered science to be the organized pursuit of knowledge about creation. The father of genetics, Gregor Johann Mendel, was a Catholic monk. The father of physics, Isaac Newton, was a Bible-believing scientist.

There are other groundbreaking and notable scientists who didn’t think science had to focus only on naturalistic causation for everything, but were real scientists who considered science should go wherever the evidence leads, instead of restricting and censoring it.

Curtis Kincheloe
Liberty

Cowtown Ballroom

Reading the article about Cowtown Ballroom caused a time warp for me (3/9, Star Magazine, “Cowtown music; For a lot of people, Cowtown Ballroom was the KC music scene. Now it’s the subject of a documentary”).

I remember going there when I was in high school. I saw BB King, Steve Martin (featuring balloon animals), the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Kansas.

The floors were hard and dirty and it was rather smoky, but the music made it all worthwhile. It was in a class all its own.

Susan Howard
Kansas City