Mindless Tripe -- Dave Barry Column Was Neither Funny Nor Cute

I believe it would be a wise practice for newspapers printing columns such as Dave Barry's on July 9 to include a disclaimer statement; a minor safeguard lest readers assume that your paper is as mindless and sexist as Barry.

As this man is apparently referring to himself in this column, it would also have been appropriate to stick to the use of personal pronouns.

As a male, I do not want to be categorized along with Barry and what must be his friends. I also do not want my son being exposed to this kind of tripe about men lest he come to believe it.

Children do attend to their role models - a frightening prospect if Mr. Barry has a son; even more so if we consider the numbers of young males already too willing to posture themselves after role models stereotyped for them by a profit-hungry media.

No, this column was neither funny nor cute. It was certainly not intelligent, witty, or informative, and exposed only the shallowness of Mr. Barry's own thinking, which he proceeds to project onto other men.

His attitude and vain attempt at humor is the modern-day analogue of the sad and destructive practice of blacks parodying blacks for the entertainment of whites.

The difference is, this is the '90s (will we ever learn?), and this is sexism as opposed to racism. Racism and sexism are related closely through ignorance, and these are the sexist stereotypes perpetrated by the increasingly few pseudo-feminists who believe the power of the feminist movement can only shine in the darkness of the failings of men.

- Rick Green, Seattle