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Much like the contestants on "The Apprentice," readers responding to our March 1 cover package on Donald Trump and his new reality show were divided into two teams (but since one of Trump's own "Rules of Success" is "pitting people against each other," perhaps it's all part of his plan). Some professed veneration for the real-estate mogul. "I am a great admirer of Trump even if his ego is as big as the TV screen," one wrote. Another praised our article for giving "an insight into Donald Trump never really brought forth [before]." But those on the other side of the fence were less kind. "Spare me the image of the corporate devils who love the evil they do," moaned one. Another asked, "The best cover story you could think of was Donald Trump? Do you live on the same planet as I do?" One reader, illustrating her own conflict, wondered, "Why are we so intrigued by this show? I can't stop watching it, yet I despise reality shows."

For Some, the Mogul to Watch

I watch Donald Trump's show every week, and I think he is fantastic, amazing, strong and tough--you name it, he's got it ("The World According to Trump," March 1). His show is about real business in today's world, and Trump has that "business personality" that really makes me want to watch "The Apprentice." Donald Trump inspires my husband and me, and we love his show. He is also an inspiration to the business world.
Anna Victoria Reich
Albuquerque, N.M.

Read More on News

Your coverage of "The Apprentice" misses the mark as to why the show is so popular. Nostalgia for the "Trump era of excess" or our anxiety about jobs and the future does not entirely explain the show's popularity. Perhaps, on a more basic level, it is the idea that Americans actually enjoy watching something positive come from capitalism and entrepreneurialism in action. We enjoy seeing some of the "old-fashioned" values of hard work, dedication, loyalty, teamwork and personal accountability take center stage. "The Apprentice" is a refreshing change from the barrage of negative business stories and can teach some valuable lessons about everyday human interactions, despite what critics of Trump and corporate America might say.
Rene E. Olivas
Emeryville, Calif.

Donald Trump has depended primarily on the economic cycle of real estate in the Manhattan area, getting rich as values increase and nearly going bankrupt on the downturn. These experiences do not necessarily qualify him for judging the business acumen of the contestants on his program. If we are looking for guidance we should instead examine the careers of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the two richest men in the United States, who started from zero to reach the pinnacle of success on their own.
Nelson Marans
Silver Spring, Md.

Contrary to your article's lead-in suggestion, I don't "love" to ogle Donald Trump's houses or helicopters, and I really don't give a damn about his hair. I don't watch the show, either. In many ways, Trump is the perfect symbol of the ills of our society, such as rampant consumerism, self-interest and greed. I could understand why the show's success might merit an intelligent examination of the popular-culture forces behind it, but your report was something else entirely and seemed to try to legitimize the show as something other than the trash it is.
Linda Leonhard
South Charleston, Ohio

What a difference 68 years make! In 1936 I was apprenticed to a leather-goods shop in Vienna, Austria. As the official apprentice I swept floors, dusted shelves and watched the workers to learn the trade. The apprenticeship paid a measly 18 schillings per week (perhaps $15 in today's currency). Now I sit and watch the humble term apprentice being elevated to near the top of the corporate ladder, with a salary that matches a king's ransom!
Frances Nunnally
Richmond, Va.

M.B.A. programs need Donald Trump's realism, grit and practical thinking when teaching students to take apart business problems to find solutions. He is in the business of being in business, and makes no apologies for that. My favorite team on his show? Team Trump!
Ragheed I. Moghrabi
Jersey City, N.J.

Donald Trump's snarling expression in your cover photo doesn't reflect why the charming Trump and "The Apprentice" are so appealing. When the contestants have to face the music in the boardroom and he says "You're fired!" to the unlucky one, he's not a nasty ogre. Trump rules the show, yet he's supportive. He makes his decision after some good, practical reasoning, and he delivers the line decisively and sympathetically, not with anger. That's what makes the show so watchable.
Stacy Endres
Reno, Nev.

As a recently laid-off employee of a large software corporation, and now avid viewer of "The Apprentice," I wish I had been given as logical an explanation as those given by The Donald to each of his soon-to-be-ex-proteges. My former employer's CFO, known as Attila the Hun without the sense of humor and with a full head of hair, makes Trump look like a pussycat. I would ask that you please withhold my name if you print this letter, as there is a gag order on my severance agreement!
Name Withheld
Laguna Niguel, Calif.

I have often studied pictures of Donald Trump and wondered why he couldn't get a more natural-looking hairpiece. But after learning that "every weirdly combed follicle" is his, I realize that "The Apprentice" is simply rehearsal for his most daring role ever: to point that index finger at his hairdresser and snarl those two trademark words, "You're fired!"
Becky Caruthers
Lafayette, Ind.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If that's true, your photo of Donald Trump's dining room tells us everything we need to know about this man.
Bob Drake
Loveladies, N.J.

I was extremely disappointed to see NEWSWEEK devote significant time and energy to the subject of Donald Trump and his television program. One is inclined to ask why his opinion or this show would matter to anyone. Trump long ago developed a reputation for seeking attention from anyone willing to provide it, good or bad. It is unfortunate that NEWSWEEK accommodated Trump's insatiable ego.
Jim Outlaw
St. Simons Island, Ga.

Donald Trump did not get to where he is without a heck of a lot of hard work. As a real-estate entrepreneur myself, I work 16-hour days and handle more responsibilities than many people who work 9 to 5. We all do what we need to do, but Trump is right on the money, so to speak, when he says that you have to love what you are doing. That is why I choose to work so many hours. And the best thing about it is that no one can tell me "You're fired!"
Cathleen Harty
West Springfield, Mass.

Fearing Fear Itself

Reading Kathy Stevenson's words, I thought of how lucky children like her son and me are to have mothers who care enough to educate us about what is going on in the world ("What I Never Learned at 'Mommy and Me'," My Turn, March 1). My mother realized the importance of exposing me to the horrors in the news while also putting those stories into context so that they would be more than just the stuff of nightmares. To this generation of parents I say only one thing: don't worry about your children's "injured psyches," for when I look around me I know we are all strong enough to take our turn as the protectors.
Jackie Gharapour
Little Rock, Ark.

It's unbelievable that Kathy Stevenson was allowed an entire page to express her irrational fear to her son about the world we live in. Her gripe that "the simplest acts in life are now tainted--opening the mail, drinking a glass of tap water"--is melodramatic and offensive not only to those who do not share her paranoia, but to those who live in New York, where danger is far more imminent than in her hometown of Haverford, Pa. Stevenson wishes she could "heal the injured psyches of our children." I do not know of which children she speaks, but as an 18-year-old living blocks from where the World Trade Center once stood, I must admit that the last time I checked, my psyche was perfectly intact.
Kira Glassman
New York, N.Y.

Kathy Stevenson confuses television with reality. Death has always been part of life. A century ago news of it arrived from across the globe as words on paper. Today, it's in our faces instantly, with great visual impact, at the touch of a remote button.
Robert D. Gillette
Poland, Ohio

Welcome to life and motherhood, Kathy Stevenson! You'd be hard pressed to find an era in history without threats to life. Fortunately, as a child I didn't live in Germany or countries it invaded in the 1930s and '40s (I'm Jewish), and wasn't in Hiroshima or Nagasaki in August 1945. I urge you to focus on the real risks for teenagers: driving, drugs and depression.
Lawrence Berk
Ventura, Calif.

Instead of over-hyping every event and trying to shield young adults from being uncomfortable, let's raise and educate our children in a manner that gives them the tools to view events objectively and apply sound decision-making skills to solve problems. Seventeen-year-olds are one year away from voting and legal adulthood. We should not be helping them stick their heads in the sand.
Susan Hanson
Baltimore, Md.

Redefining Marriage

President Bush is not the only one who is "troubled" by the same-sex marriages in San Francisco ("Outlaw Vows," March 1). I for one think that they are totally wrong. What is all this publicity teaching children? The truth is that same-sex marriage is unacceptable and should not be tolerated. Somebody, perhaps Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, should do something about this outrage that is ridiculous and a horrible influence on our children. This affects our nation as a whole, in many ways, small and large.
Dan Seegmiller
Richfield, Utah

Your photograph of Eric Etherington, Doug Okun and their twin daughters says it all. These are the faces of a loving couple and loving parents. All they want are the same things that the rest of us take for granted. How is that a threat? The message coming from San Francisco is one of love, tolerance and fairness. The message coming from President Bush and the religious right is one of hate, intolerance and mean-spiritedness. It is time for conservatives to quit obsessing about what people do in their own bedrooms and start doing something about the real problems in our society, such as joblessness, poverty, homelessness and our young men and women getting killed in Iraq.
Alice Jones
Seattle, Wash.

The problem with gay marriage is partly semantic, since the word marriage is so fraught with emotion. Instead, why don't counties simply issue "civil union" licenses without ceremony for all couples of whatever gender, thus legally guaranteeing spousal rights and responsibilities to everyone without discrimination? The term marriage should resume its sacramental meaning. Couples who choose to marry may do so at a separate ceremony within their own faith or belief system. If a church, mosque or temple chooses not to marry homosexual couples, that is its privilege but carries no legal weight. Launching a constitutional amendment to meddle with such issues is lunacy.
Karen Sibert
Sherman Oaks, Calif.

What part of "separation of church and state" is so hard for the religious right to understand? Trying to deny an adult citizen of the United States any civil rights or liberties because you don't personally like his way of life is unconstitutional and un-Christian. People should do as they wish in their place of worship, but the law must be equal for all. We need only look to the Middle East to see what happens when religion and politics are allowed to mix. Working to deny civil rights, or forcing your religious beliefs on others, is about as un-American as you can get.
Lynne Park
Pollock Pines, Calif.

President Bush stated, "goverment, by recognizing and protecting marriage, serves the interests of all." How does allowing a same-sex couple to pledge their commitment to each other and have that pledge recognized by the state serve the interest of my marriage? It doesn't. No outside force can change the pledge to spend a lifetime of devotion that a husband and wife make to each other before God and family. If the president wants what is in the interest of my heterosexual marriage of more than 14 years, he should focus on the economy. By doing so, that would allow my husband, who was laid off 15 months ago, to find and secure meaningful employment. Same-sex marriage should not be used as a smoke screen to cloud the real issue. We should be focusing upon factors vital to our society and way of life.
Sterling Fulton-Smith
Cary, N.C.

The homosexual-marriage agenda advances not because of activist judges, but because so few of us rail against it in the first place. Apparently two thirds of the country is against gay marriage, but where are these people? While homosexuals complain about being persecuted in loud, audible sound bites, the opposition is at home watching "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." Without President Bush's support of a constitutional amendment, the opposition's response to gay marriage has all the deafening roar of a church mouse. A silent majority? What we really have is an "apathetic" majority.
Patrick Hester
Overland Park, Kans.

The High-School Stock Market

The major lesson I have learned while participating in the stock-market game in my economics class is to trade smart and to do research instead of relying on the advice of others ("Kids Will Be... Daytraders?" March 1). My teacher has emphasized diversification and warned us about short-selling. On the other hand, we also learned that the higher the risk, the greater the potential return. So, it is not that teachers are not teaching about mutual funds and safe trading; rather, it is that within a 10-week period students try to make as much money as fast as they can.
Jamie Caliendo
Burbank, Ill.

Since 1977 more than 8 million students have participated in the Stock Market Game Program. Overwhelmingly the response from young people, their parents and their teachers has been to tell us how valuable the curriculum has been in preparation for meeting a lifetime of financial challenges. Frequent program updates and Web-site enhancements have ensured that the SMG Program has kept pace with changing technology and market conditions, while providing an engaging platform for learning through experience. We invite Jane Bryant Quinn to visit a few classrooms to see firsthand how the program makes a difference in students' lives.
Donna C. Peterman, Chairman
Foundation for Investor Education
New York, N.Y.

After Viewing 'The Passion'

David Ansen's review of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" was right on, pointing out both the gratuitous violence and the underdeveloped plot ("So What's the Good News?" March 1). The torture Jesus underwent was undoubtedly harsh, but Gibson's failure to place it in the context of his life and ministry--let alone the religious and political history of first-century Palestine--robs the movie of dramatic tension along with any chance it might have had to present an engaging image of Christ. Instead it assaults audiences with all the subtlety of one of the numberless blows that provide the movie's only tempo. Ansen concedes that Christians may find inspiration in the film, but that he "can't pretend to know what this movie looks like to a believer." To this believer, it looks like a hijacking of the most challenging and compelling story of the human experience for purposes that are not clear.
Krestia DeGeorge
Ogdensburg, N.Y.

In his review of Mel Gibson's landmark movie, David Ansen says, "I can't pretend to know what this movie looks like to a believer." The unspeakable cruelty of Christ's suffering and personal sacrifice, as depicted in the film, clearly offends Ansen's self-admitted secularism. Yet it is Ansen's secular perspective that makes it difficult, if not impossible, for him to appreciate the real purpose of "The Passion of the Christ": to show the enormity of Christ's love for all mankind--a love so profound and selfless that he gave his life for us. This is the very thing that Christians find eternally reaffirming. And while the violence was indeed numbing at times, anything less would have trivialized man's ultimate triumph over death.
Jim Stoucker
Fairfax Station, Va.

Correction

In "Job Hunt at Work" (Tip Sheet, March 8) we misidentified a company's Web address. It is anonymizer.com.

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