WE GET LETTERS . . . : ‘Basic Instinct’

Damn.

Based on its trailers, I hadn’t intended to see Verhoeven’s “Basic Instinct,” but now I guess I’ll have to go.

As a gay man, I hate homophobia. As a student and writer, however, I hate even more any act smacking of censorship. I see precious little difference between Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and lesbian activist Annette Gaudino when both want me to help them restrict other people’s cinematic visions. I will fight both just as hard as I need to in defense of my right to go see what I want.

Wake up, boys and girls: There will always be an Us and a Them, divided by some arcane axis, and They will always have something to say about Us that We won’t want to hear. Handle it. Shutting Them up doesn’t change what They think. It only makes Them hate Us for oppressing Them.

Surely all activists can understand that.

JOHN DIBELKA

San Diego