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A Response by [name witheld]

The Drunken Terrorism of Edgar Bronfman

Your article on Edgar Bronfman raised enough questions for me to do a little research, so here are some of the things that I found.

"Edgar Bronfman is president and CEO of Seagram's, which is responsible for distributing over 65% of the toxic malt liquor in our communities. This man owns and controls the following:...:"

The Bronfman family owns 35% of Seagram's (http://www.vaultreports.com/career/SeagramCompany.html).  While I do not know the details on the malt liquor claim, a brief pass at some malt liquor-related pages suggests this may not be the case.

In case there are any former malt liquor drinkers on the list (I would not want to encourage anyone to start or continue drinking this gasoline), you will find a comprehensive and simultaneously hilarious and troubling malt liquor site at (http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/3108/).  It is for mature audiences and often in poor taste (just like malt liquor).

I did not take the time to look into the details of Seagram media ownership, but they are indeed building the Seagram's company into a media empire with concerns in music, film and theme parks (http://www.seagram.com/company_info/history/main.html).  The other organizational connections attributed to Bronfman are not only correct, they are understated (http://www.seagram.com/company_info/org_chart/e_bronfman.html).

Based on my read of the information, I do find the following items troubling and (IMO) worthy of awareness and further discussion:

#1:  What are the implications of a company founded on the sale of alcohol, a poison that is directly connected to hundreds of thousands of deaths each year

http://www.madd.org/stats/

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/alcohol/alcupdate/alcprobupd.html#314

http://www.ccsa.ca/hrtables.htm

having controlling interests in a variety of media vehicles which help influence public opinion?

#2:  Does it not seem contradictory, or at least problematic, for a person who heads an organization whose primary goals is to "protect and nourish" the "spiritual, cultural and social heritage" of a group of people to also head a company which derives most of its income from the sale of alcoholic beverages (http://www.seagram.com/financials/annual_reports/annual_reports/pg41_graph.html) which unprotect and malnourish the "spiritual, cultural and social heritage" of certain other groups of people?

Imagine Kwesi Mfume or Jesse Jackson being a major stockholder or CEO of Anheuser-Busch?  Would that go by unquestioned? Please read the information yourself and come to your own conclusions.  I would be interested in a discussion on this. I will close with a quote from the Malt Liquor site referenced above (warning: it was written by white guys, and they have several statements that some may find troubling).

"This was the one that started it all for us. Our search for Colt '45 took us on a three hour urban exploration through some of the uh... not better areas of Sacramento and vicinity. It was quite a pleasant surprise to find that we would be rewarded with an extra 5 ounces per bottle over the normal 40."

Go back to original Bronfman article.