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Speaking Out: Readers react to Lady Gaga’s new single


Lady Gaga no Madonna?

Re: “Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’: Impress or ‘Express’?” (Feb. 11)

“This has been the longest 15 minutes of fame I’ve ever seen.”

“She wishes she could make a song as great as Madonna’s “Express Yourself.” Madonna — often imitated, never duplicated!”

“If I hadn’t seen this first and then listened to it, I don’t know if I would have caught the similarities.”

“I like Gaga, but it was a mistake to hype “the next great gay anthem” for six months and then release a mediocre, sound-alike club track. An anthem gathers momentum, it is not produced.”

“I wouldn’t really call it a modern reboot. If it was that she would have just redone “Express Yourself.” While I can hear riffs from “Express Yourself” in the song, I also hear a “Vogue” sound in the talking parts. I feel that the song is more of a way of saying thank you to Madonna. She obviously inspired a lot of girls and Lady Gaga has proven that she was one of those girls time and time again. In conclusion I absolutely love the song.”

“Holy tenor, Bo. Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus needs you. C’mon, girl.”

Readers chide APD Red Dog Unit; former member speaks out

Re: “Atlanta police to disband controversial Red Dog Unit” (Feb. 7)

“About damned time.”

“They are simply getting reassigned. Patterns of behavior will just get buried until the next incident pops up with one of them. It’s the same old, same old story.”

“It’s about time; they were supposed to have been organized to catch drug gangs, but they never even made a dent in that problem. It was too easy for them to set up stings and harass the gay community; made them feel like they were earning their salaries; I guess now they will go back to regular patrol duty, drive around and eat donuts.”

“I think that most officers are good in their hearts and want to do their very best. It is the few who get away, repeatedly, with awful abuses that make it bad. This is not a new situation. It’s been allowed to fester unchecked for years. There needs to be a top down cleansing as well as re-education, not just of Red Dog but across the board.”

“Red Dog addressed the most violent offenders in Atlanta. In many cases these offenders operate openly without challenge from anyone but Red Dog. We ask these heroes to stand the line and fight the war against good and evil but when they falter, we offer only abandonment. It’s not the heroes of Red Dog that will suffer for the decision to disband Red Dog, the citizens of Atlanta will suffer. Signed, prior proud Red Dog.”

Too early for gay groups to endorse in East Point race

Re: “Gay East Point councilmember endorsed by Georgia Equality, Victory Fund” (Feb. 1)

“Given that it is only Feb. 1 and the qualifying period isn’t until August and the election in November, isn’t this way too early to do an endorsement? This is crazy and I for one will never give Georgia Equality a dime since it is clear all they want to do is keep helping their friends.”

“These organizations are irrelevant and searching for some influence. Endorsing anyone (let alone Rhodes, but I digress) in February is absurd. Who knows what highly qualified candidate could emerge? Stupid.”