The Evil that Men Do
The Evil that Men Do David Gelernter assails the flaccid public morality that failed to react to the Unabomber's crimes with appropriate horror and condemnation ("Unresolved Evil," April 6). He is...
...in 1998, it probably saved her job...
...Nevertheless, that he escaped the death penalty was right: Society owed it to the brother's extraordinary moral courage to "cheer him on" by not making him the agent of his own brother's death...
...When Podhoretz is right, he's very right...
...I pay major-league prices to see major-league performance...
...Perhaps the reason the Unabomber escaped the death penalty derived, as Gelernter thinks, from a collective failure to denounce evil...
...Kaczynski's brother informed against him...
...otherwise he would not have been found at all...
...Gelernter denounces evil to great effect, but the one striking good in the Unabomber case goes by unpraised...
...Gelernter says about the Unabomber, "We found the man and put him away...
...Wilbur W. Hitchcock Atlanta, GA More Evil Under the Sun John Podhoretz, with whom I usually disagree, is exactly right and deeply insightful in his review of Primary Colors ("Primary Black & White," March 30...
...But there is another facet rarely talked about: the pursuit of perfection...
...In rare instances, they may actually swing bats like AA players...
...Seeing this film made me want to re-watch some of the great films about insane evil, whether personal or political, such as Touch of Evil, Night of the Hunter, and All the King's Men...
...The brother's act, in which principled citizenship won out over the claims of blood, over natural fraternal feeling, and over the scorn that was to be expected from those who instinctively despise a man who "rats on his own brother," is a shining achievement of moral heroism...
...Rather, I think it's simply the look of a mouth-breather who, when a wide-open smile would be inappropriate, is trying to hold his breath so that he can keep his mouth closed and avoid the village-idiot look...
...Gelernter's statement, "Goodness is unnatural and we need to cheer one another on," is especially true in this instance...
...He is right about that...
...But they are directed to the next half-inning, or else they wouldn't be at the plate...
...Merrill Orne Young Surry, VA Batting a Dead Horse Could we please have a moratorium on pieces about how baseball (a) is a conservative sport, (b) used to be a conservative sport, (c) may once again become a conservative sport, or (d) remains somewhat more conservative than football (though not nearly as conservative as it ought to be...
...Paul S. Bridge Ellicott City, MD Monkey Muddle Dean Ellen O' Neill's memorandum to the Borough of Manhattan Community College ("Not a Parody," March 30) contains four or five apologies for referring to a childhood game, "monkey in the middle," when addressing in a jocular fashion a staff member whose physical presence alone was sufficient to add diversity and cultural enrichment to that college community...
...For the most part, pitchers as batters are only attempting to look respectable...
...But no more baseball...
...It seems to me that the Clinton cover photo (March 30) is not the look of arrogance you imply...
...Such abject groveling to save one's neck would not be out of place in the old imperial Chinese court...
...He is right that "we need to hear the crowd (hear ourselves) praising good and denouncing evil...
...Terry Teachout New York, NY Arguments for and against the designated hitter's contribution are generally supportable with statistics, one of the baseball writer's basic tools...
...James G. Baird Woodstock, GA About that Chin Thing...
...Christopher Caldwell discusses strategy and the extension of players' careers ("A DHumb Idea at 25," April 13...
...Talking permitted him to keep his mouth open—and so he gave himself much more practice than the rest of us...
...The sentence imposed, whatever the considerations that actually led to it, justly united the condemnation of evil and the praise of good...
...Perhaps this explains why he has developed into such an effective speaker...
...You can even write about your cars if you want...
...Lloyd Eby Cheverly, MD...
...That is untrue, according to the accounts I have read...
...Compromising perfection, even one time out of nine, is not major league...
...I'm willing to stipulate that the editors of THE Weekly Standard are regular guys who have lives and care about more than just policy...
Vol. 3 • April 1998 • No. 31
