Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

ch-scene - Re: Ditch the guns II

ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: RTP-area local music and culture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Ruby Sinreich <ruby AT lotusmedia.org>
  • To: RTP-area local music and culture <ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: Ditch the guns II
  • Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 22:55:20 -0400

Todd, it's a little annoying that you are responding to my blog post here instead of on my blog (where there have been a number of good comments), but I'll bite. If others want to follow along, you can find what Todd is responding to here: <http://www.lotusmedia.org/blog/ 2004_09_01_archive.html#109525643573590930>

First since you're curious: I didn't mention either of the Indy letters in my post, so I don't see why it matters that one was by my boyfriend. Also in answer to your question, we have no idea who the other letter writer was and were very happily surprised to see that someone else independently had the same concerns. I have enjoyed seeing movies at the Starlite many times, but never without some inner conflict about the guns at the snack bar. Whenever I see a gun, my day usually gets worse.

I didn't say everyone was burying their heads in the sand, but some SOS organizers have responded to concerns about the gun shop by saying they didn't know how the finances worked and they didn't want to know. They didn't say, as you did Todd, that they have "long supported the right to buy and sell guns." If they do, they should say so. If they don't, well that's something to think about, isn't it?

Although many of you seem to presume it to be the case, I have seen no evidence that the gun shop is needed to keep the drive-in open. The article that Jason posted was interesting, but as Duncan pointed out, it doesn't seem to prove that the drive-in is necessarily subsidized by the guns. It seems that the guns, and the videos, and the drive-in all support each other. I can imagine a number of other part-time businesses that could help sustain the Starlite.

But I'm not here to tell anyone what to do. If he wants to sell guns legally, I'm in no position to stop him. All I've said is that I don't personally want to give money to an institution that puts more guns into my community. It's against my religious and my political beliefs. I'm not gonna do it.

= Ruby


On Monday, September 20, 2004, at 09:08 PM, Todd Morman wrote:

Brian:

"To me the *main* point of the two letters in the Indy is to let anyone
who is donating money and time to the 'Save the Starlite' cause that
their money &/or time MIGHT be used to support a business that sells
guns."

Fair enough. I just want to know, Brian, if you knew that the gun shop
supported the drive-in (rather than the other way around) *before* you wrote
your letter. From what you and Ruby have written about this, it doesn't seem
like either of you got that before you complained. I'd also like to know,
just out of curiosity, if you know the letter writer from Durham. It
surprised me that Ruby blogged this without mentioning that her boyfriend
(you, right?) had written the first Indy letter. Note that I'm not
discounting your point; I'd just like to know if the two letters were also
linked in some way. I was also mildly annoyed by Ruby's unfair framing of
the debate (not all of us are "burying our heads in the sand," thank you,
but have long supported the right to buy and own certain guns), but that's a
separate issue.

Regardless, what you're asking for here, it seems to me, is a boycott of
anyone who sells guns in America today. That's fine, but why not be, er,
transparent about it? Have you and/or Ruby been to the Starlite in the past?
If so, how did you justify giving the owner money at the time, since you're
obviously opposed to "a business that sells guns"? And would you attend in
the future? These aren't snippy questions; I'm really trying to sort this
out intelligently.

todd glad you and Ruby started this conversation morman

-- ch-scene: the list that mirrors alt.music.chapel-hill --
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene


--
Ruby Sinreich :: ruby AT lotusmedia.org :: http://lotusmedia.org/blog
"Instead of hating the people you think are the warmakers, hate the appetites and the disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed, but hate these things in yourself, not in another." -Thomas Merton





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page