Oppositional Opposition

To prevent our own extinction, Ms. Costa argues we must avoid “oppositional thinking.” (“Carmel sociobiologist Rebecca Costa dares us to think our way out of extinction,” Nov. 11 – 17). She cites politicians who say “I’m against taxes” or “I’m against government debt” as examples of oppositional thinking. Conversely, however, she no doubt opposes those who advocate lower taxes and balanced budgets. Oops, there’s that pesky oppositional thinking!

Not even Ms. Costa can be “for” everything. Life constantly forces us to choose between opposites. What she is really saying is “don’t oppose anything I’m advocating.”

Crash course

In the article “Evolve or Die” decrying what she calls “oppositional thinking,” Rebecca Costa states “… we are running airplanes into buildings… ”Um, no, Rebecca, we arenot. And for the record, I am opposed to those who are.

Bubble rap

I’m sorry to have to burst your bubble so early, but her theories and ideas are infantile and parochial at best. For one thing, shegroups the Romans, Byzantines and Ming societieswith the Mayans. The first three were not decimated; theysimply lost their empires.She seems to like to use the Mayans as an example of how gridlock can destroy a culture, but the fact is that she is a little careless with the truth. I have studied the cultures of the Arawak Federation and other indigenouscultures of Central and South America. One factor that Ms. Costa seems purposely to disregard is the devastating effect of European influence on these cultures as they began to exert their influence in this hemisphere. These are cultures that existed for thousands of years on their own and they were destroyed in less than a quarter of a century primarily because of the diseases and abuses of the Europeans.

She speaks a lot about gridlock and how we can avoid it, but the fact is that gridlock is inescapable because it is in our nature to be contentious. Even among indigenous cultures of the Caribbean, peaceful agrarian tribes were always lorded over by the warring Tainos and the Caribs. The weak will always be victimized by the powerful because of our greed and covetous nature.

Extinction? There is no denying that some cultures have been lost during our world history, but we have also proven that mutual destruction is not an agenda item that any power wants to chance. There are a lot of people out there with real knowledge about thethings that threaten our species, and Costa is not one of them. Her opinions are peppered with far-left socio-economic ideologies that are founded on nothing more than the utopian dream state she is still under the influence of. But then, there is nothingsurprising about someone who sits in her mansion in the exclusive community of Carmel wanting to lecture us about how we should be living.

Life of Gary

Your feature article on Gary Pisoni’s special kind of crazyis outstanding(“A closer look at the crazy Santa Lucia Highlands wine deity – and what comes next,” Nov. 4 – 10). It informs and entertains the reader in a new way. Your description of the way Gary speaks is spot on, and you even find a way to make some ofhis “unprintable” stories palatable. I think your descriptive writing shows great insight and talent.I should know – I’m Gary’s former wife and the mother of Mark and Jeff.s