Letter of the Week:

In My Head, She’s A Total Babe
Dear Nexus,
I'm glad you brought attention to the seriously fucked up issue of a unanimous $2 door charge in Hamilton clubs and pubs.
This is apparently because bar owners are concerned about the growing 'binge drinking culture'. Bloody hypocrites. If it wasn't for binge drinking bar owners would be homeless by now. The real reason they want to encourage us into town earlier, is so that we sober up quicker, and need to buy their alcohol of ridiculously inflated prices.
Added to this… increasing the legal drinking age is a joke! At 18 you can gamble, go to prison, take out a loan, get drafted to go to war, get married, sleep with who ever you want, vote in an election… I don't understand how penalizing 18 and 19 year olds will overly curb New Zealand's obsession with booze. Besides, we all know the real binge drinking problem begins with 15 year old kids sneaking out of the house with Mum and Dad's bottle of rum, and sitting around on street corners.
Let's admit, Hamilton nightlife is ok compared to a small town with just a TAB and pervy old men who grab your bum as you walk past (shudder). However, in Hamilton you go to about three different clubs and they're all playing remixed versions of the top 20 pop hits of the week. I wouldn't mind if my $2 was going towards a sick DJ with some sweet beats or a live band… but it will go nowhere except the owners back pocket.
Also, I have something to say to those people who constantly bag out the 'student'… Would you rather we were partying it up in bars, in town, where there are police men, bouncers, taxis and buses... or having a massive street party till 3am outside your house? Because I know it's only $2, but trust me, that $2 will defer a student from going to town. Just to piss all the bar owners off... at the end of the day, we're the ones who they make a living off.
If they decide to charge us $2 they really need to make some improvements. Maybe decrease the prices of their alcohol, if it was cheap enough, then we would drink in their pubs rather then downing tequila shots half an hour before going into town to cut loose. Play some decent dance music. No more of that Ke$ha crap (BAR101 and Outback you devils), and maybe get some better bouncers that look at your I.D rather then your tits to make sure you aren't underage.

Yours Truly...

Guilty Club Hopper x x x

Meat! Grrrrr!
To the Angry Vegetarian,
I don't see myself (and most people) as Hypocritical for eating cow meat, I see myself (and most people) as Lazy. Why go through all the effort of finding a financially viable way of farming humans and then have to deal with everyone elses ethical and moral opinions just to obtain a meat that I don't even know I like? Especially when I already know I like Cow. The effort to reward ratio just isn't in favour of this new farm you suggested. It would probably be easier (though truly horrid) to go slaughter a few ethnic minorities from Africa and pass them off as some kind of Gazelle meat.
And why should we treat cows like they're one of us when they aren't one of us? They are Cow, we are Human. Even the names are completely different.
And I do know where my meat comes from (but even if I didn't I wouldn't care as long as it tastes good. I've been to a meat works factory place and that didn't put me off delicious, delicious meat). It comes from the land behind my house where we let the cow live blissfully (not in torment) for a year-ish. It has 4 paddocks to run around in and can even socialise with the neighbouring cows from the farm next door. It gets delicious grass and even some nutritous vegetables and water given straight to it, it doesn't even need to go looking. Then it gets to go live in a new home called Freezer and we get a replacement. I have named the next one Dinner.

Michelle The Heartless

(Next time someone asks why you're vegetarian just say meat makes you sick and leave it at that)

A Letter From A Crazy Person
Dear Ed,
Awesome to see that once again you really don't get the point. The government doesn't have ANY power, right? Do you think this shit would wash in France? The PEOPLE would simply shut the country down. Simple. 700000 people smoke in this country. If every smoker picked up one rock and smashed one window, how long would it take for the government to rethink its tax policy? And if that don't work break a window today and start a fire tomorrow. Remember the American war of independence? It was fought because of a tax on tea. Anyway of course this won't actually happen here in part because you have better things to worry about. Greenday's street cred for example... Or is God real and does he like Greenday? Meanwhile the government will rape our country and sell the rest to foriegn coporations. Sure, Zena Warrior princess and 50000 others matched down Queen Street protesting about mining. Bet Labour, National et al were shitting themselves. Just watch how little is actually done to prevent mining in OUR parks. Are we people or sheeple? Grow a fucking spine New Zealand, stop bitching and pick up a fucking rock. Remember who has the power. If you're not prepared to pick that rock up, shut the fuck up and get used to living on your knees and on your back. And remember our government dont believes in niether foreplay or Vasaline. Don't say you weren't warned...

Amen,
Rev

P.B.U.H. Fo’ Sho’
Dear editor,
I believe you made a great point about not writing about religion anymore. You essentially stated that all people have the right to choose what they believe as long as they are not causing harm to others. Unfortunately this letter is about religion. Generally disinclined to engage in such debates I was compelled to write this letter due to an unprovoked attack on the Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon him (P.B.U.H). An article in last week’s issue of Nexus declared a day as ‘Everybody draw Muhammad Day’. The stated purpose of this advertisement was to declare our freedom of expression and show that we will not cower to a group of Muslim zealots who object to these pictures. The purpose of this letter is to explain the reasons behind Muslim outrage at such pictures and comment on the motives of these who seek to draw such pictures.
An attempt at understanding Muslim behavior has to been seen in the context of Islam and Muhammad’s (P.B.U.H) place in it. Muslims consider Islam to be a continuation of the Abrahamic religions consisting also of Judaism and Christianity. Islam recognizes all the Prophets starting from Adam down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon and all the other prophets of the people of IsraelPeace be upon them all (P.B.U.T). As for Jesus (P.B.U.H), Muslims differ with Jews by recognizing him as a Messenger of God but they disagree with Christians by recognizing him as a human and messenger of God, the same as Abraham, Muhammad and Moses (P.B.U.T).
Secondly, Muslims consider Muhammad to be also the messenger of God, the same as Moses and Jesus. All the prophets are considered the chosen people of God and as such are accorded a place higher than normal people. It is for this reason that we are prohibited to draw or act (or in anyway impersonate) the personality of any of the prophets.
The truth of the matter is that Muslims take exception to people drawing the pictures of any of the Prophets and not just Muhammad. So why is there such a fuss on the drawing of Muhammad? Well, when Jews draw Abraham or Moses or when Christians draw Jesus; they don’t do it to ridicule these Prophets but rather as a sign of love and affection for them. There are in fact historical pictures of Muslims drawing Muhammad, the reason those never caused a stir is because of the intention behind them. A picture that depicts Muhammad as a terrorist (or in any other derogatory manner) not only defames the personality of Muhammad but ridicules the beliefs of 1.5 billion Muslims around the world (figure taken from BBC).
If an idiot was to decide to depict the picture of Jesus as a child molester, the Muslims will be the first to object to such an affront. Such a picture will not only defame a great man but also presume that Jesus (P.B.U.H) somehow assented to all the doings of his followers. One the other side of the coin, why Muslims do not stand outside churches protesting about the statues of Jesus (P.B.U.H) is because Christians draw these pictures as a way of affection and reverence; the same can not be said for the person drawing Jesus (P.B.U.H) as a child molester.
Why a person (especially one purporting to be a liberal free from all prejudice) would decide to draw pictures of Muhammad is beyond me. Either they conceal a deep entrenched hatred for Muhammad (P.B.U.H) and the Muslims; or they truly believe in the rhetoric of freedom of expression.
Freedom or expression might be a new phenomenon to the West but it is certainly not new to other civilizations. No civilization, or religion, has ever restricted freedom of expression as long as it is not offensive to their sensibilities or harmful to others. Whether these reasons justify a ban is open to argument however that’s just the nature of societies. Society essentially is controlled by powerful men who always act either according to the dictates of circumstances or the force of their prejudices.
A freedom of expression that has no other purpose besides enraging a people is, at best, reckless. Let us presume someone was to publish an article in Waikato Times denying the holocaust; or praising the September 11 perpetuators; or even praising the murder of Theo Van Gogh: could it be presumed that this person will continue to enjoy his rights of expression after that without fear to his life and property? The murder of Theo Van Gogh was an unfortunate deed indeed; but why are we so swift in forgetting the murder of Marwa al-Sherbini and the lessons we can learn from that? Were she and her unborn baby not murdered for her decision to exercise her freedom of expression or was her murderer incited by those very people who preach hatred against Muslims in the name of freedom of expression? Such exercise of freedom of expression produces no practical benefits and only endangers the lives of innocent people falling prey to war mongers. We own a duty to our fellow humans (particularly the Christians residing in Middle East) to abstain from acting in such a manner that would endanger their lives as a result of provocations for which we were solely responsible.
Let no one think that this is a society which allows complete freedom of expression. To spread false information about a person that lowers the estimation of that person in other peoples’ minds is called defamation and proscribed under the law. The dozens of secret (and known) prisons in Afghanistan, Iraq, Cuba and Middle East and the recent burqa (and minaret) bans across Europe are a warning to those (especially Muslims) foolish enough to think we enjoy complete freedom of expression in liberal democracies.
Perhaps those that draw these pictures do not intend to offend anyone. But the truth of the matter is that they do and considering the current political environment their motivations will always be brought to question. A critical assessment of the life and character of Muhammad (P.B.U.H) is not unwelcome; in fact it is encouraged because Muhammad was one of the very few people who was supremely successful in both the secular and the religious levels. His achievements are innumerable and his career an enviable one. Those who have despised him have always done so and will always continue to do so and those who love him have always done so and will continue to do so. A man of such magnitude and resources will always court controversy. He should not be judged solely from a sloppy article off the internet or a drawing on a magazine. It will turn a young man old before he can truly grasp the personality of Muhammad or the impact of what he offered the world.
I sincerely hope that this letter will not spark yet another row of mud slinging between the Nexus writers which usually achieve nothing except inflate some egos and shrink others. The purpose of this letter was to explain the reasons behind Muslims anger at such pictures and expose the malevolence of those that seek to veil their hatred of Muslims through such drawings. I apologize if I have offended anyone in the process of doing so.

Regards