6 LISTENER MARCH 14 2020
LETTERS
A
LE
X^
SC
O
TT
“He has one suit that he
irons by running it over with
his car.” – US comedian Seth
Meyers on Bernie Sanders“Men build too many walls
and not enough bridges.”
– US attorney Joseph Fort Newton“Apologising doesn’t always
mean that you’re wrong and
the other person is right. It
just means that you value
your relationship more than
your ego.” – Unknown“Coronavirus makes clear
what has been true all along.
Your health is as safe as that
of the worst-insured, worst-
cared-for person in your
society. It will be decided
by the height of the floor,
not the ceiling.” – Anand
Giridharadas in Time“His brain is like a radio
playing at top volume but
between stations.” – Stephen
King on Donald Trump“I guess it makes sense he’s
in charge of diseases now,
because he always has an
expression that looks like No
6 on the pain chart.” – Meyers
on Mike Pence“We have a president who
thinks this coronavirus is
a minor annoyance like
the common cold or the
Constitution of the United
States.” – US comedian Bill
Maher“You just have to take
more precautions now.
Just assume everything is
infectious, the same warning
they give contestants on The
Bachelor.” – Bill Maher“A cloudy day is no match
for a sunny disposition.” – US
writer William Arthur WardQuips&
Quotes
magnate who believes his
interpretation of his life’s
trajectory should be imitated
by all.
But times have changed.
Income from GDP growth
that goes to the already-rich
in the form of rent, leading
to significant income distri-
bution problems, has led to
what social scientists call the
“economics of despair” among
low-paid wage earners.
A despair economy in the
US, in what another old, rich,
white, self-centred real-estate
magnate calls “the great-
est economy in the world”,
involves a dramatic rise in
deaths by suicide, drug over-
doses and alcoholism. Sound
familiar?
Robert Myers
(Auckland)DEER OH DEER
The claim that a wild red
deer stag can eat 20-30kg of
vegetable matter a day is ques-
tionable to say the least (Letters,
March 7). And the “hordes” of
deer in the Tararua Range are
not eating leaves, fern fronds,
lichens, mosses and liverworts
as the letter writer claims. The
diet of New Zealand red deer
is herbs, shrubs, seedlings and
tussock/grass species.
What’s more, there are no
hordes of deer in the northern
Tararuas and this has been the
case been for decades. Wild-
animal recovery operations by
helicopter have seen to that.out on new experiences and
previously unknown compos-
ers and interpreters.
Much of my own passion
for music grew from listen-
ing to 2YC on my mother’s
radio – I’m a pre-war baby- but music-loving friends
represent many generations.
And numerous school orches-
tras, youth and community
choirs and junior instrument
classes suggest any number of
audiences who might enjoy
learning by listening to music,
alone or with friends or family,
from a radio.
Jenny Chisholm
(Wilton, Wellington)
GENUINE GENES
“Gene pull” (February 22)
quotes Robert Plomin’s
detailed figures for the
proportions of variation in
various human traits that are
explained by genetics. Largely,
these figures are based on
adoption and twin studies.
To the extent that the effects
of heredity and environment
can be separated, they reflect
only what has been found for
adoptees who were represented
in the studies used.
At least in the US, adopting
families show greater similar-
ity in socio-economic status
than the general population.
Low-income and non-whitefamilies are poorly repre-
sented. Recently, evidence has
emerged of epigenetic effects
that can extend across genera-
tions, making it impossible
to distinguish genetic effects
across a single generation from
environmental effects that
extend across more than one
generation.
There are so many
limitations in the data and
so many complications in
the biological mechanisms
involved that Plomin’s figures
should be treated with extreme
scepticism.
John Maindonald
(Karori, Wellington)KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES
I read Joanne Black’s account
of the Jones v Maihi defama-
tion case (“Culture clash”,
February 29) with increasing
disbelief. Does the fact that I’m
four months from turning 80
mean I’m going to suddenly
become as out of touch as Sir
Robert Jones?
From the reported
exchanges between Jones
and defence lawyer Davey
Salmon, it’s clear that, whether
a racist or not, Jones consid-
ers himself better than us.
Although he gussies it up with
the term “libertarian”, he’s
really just another old, rich,
self-absorbed, white real-estate“Lower.”
The Editor, Listener, Private Bag
92512, Wellesley St, Auckland 1141.Letters to the editor
{[email protected]}● Letters must be under 300
words. Preference is given to
shorter letters. ● A writer’s
full residential address is
required on all letters, including
emails. A phone number can
be helpful. ● Pen names or
letters submitted elsewhere are
not acceptable. ● We reserve
the right to edit or decline
letters without explanation, or
to post them to our website.TRADIES’ TAILORING