What You Said About …

ELECTIONS IN AFGHANISTAN

“Brave people with a lot at stake,” wrote AlphaJuliette on TIME.com about the steadfast voters, many of them women, described by Krista Mahr in her April 14 cover story on violent Taliban efforts to disrupt elections. Readers like Hannah Vissering of Marquette, Mich., feared continued abuses, citing myriad people “with the means to impede the noble aims of those who desire a modern democratic state.” A war-weary Edward Monroe of Temecula, Calif., meanwhile, was struck by the contrast between a 2001 TIME cover on “The Last Days of the Taliban” and last week’s: “Does anything else depict the failure of the Western world more?”

MENTAL HEALTH AND OBAMACARE

Many readers objected to Joe Klein’s suggestion that “if the Jones family believes it receives all the mental-health counseling it needs through its church, it shouldn’t be required to pay for mental-health coverage.” “No one can foresee which of our families will be impacted by serious mental illness, although we do know it will be at least 20% of them,” wrote Elizabeth Hinds of Portland, Ore. Psychologist Jill Berger of Coconut Creek, Fla., added that clergy, while essential, “are not sufficiently trained in evidence-based psychotherapy and can do more harm than good in some cases.”

MICROAGGRESSION

John McWhorter’s essay on microaggression–small, often unconscious acts of bigotry–spurred a lively, at times snarky debate on Time.com. “Here, have a tissue. Problem solved,” wrote finnhuckster. “Anyone who is so easily offended needs to travel more; learn what real problems look like,” commented JonDyson. “You missed that microagression is not just about race,” countered ssojourner. “It’s also about gender, sexual orientation, being of ‘unclear’ heritage and more. In other words, anyone can unintentionally or intentionally be microaggressive by ignoring or challenging the humanity of the person in front of us and ignoring our own privilege (even if it’s only in that moment).”

NOW ON LIGHTBOX

U.S. drone attacks have killed an estimated 900 civilians in Pakistan since 2004. To put a face on the destruction, a group of Pakistani artists worked with French street artist JR on an installation, above, in a field in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, featuring a banner-size image of a young Pakistani girl whose parents were allegedly killed in a drone strike. Its title? #NotABugSplat, a reference to U.S. military slang for casualties of drone attacks. Read more at lightbox.time.com.

NOW ON TIME.COM

In advance of TIME’s annual TIME 100 list of the world’s most influential people (curated by our editors), we’re asking you to weigh in on who you think should make the cut. Choose from 150 artists, icons and leaders (including the six at right) at time.com/time100. We’ll publish reader picks on April 23.

(1) NARENDRA MODI

Indian politician

(2) BEYONCÉ

Musician

(3) BARACK OBAMA

U.S. President

(4) MARY BARRA

GM CEO

(5) SHINZO ABE

Japanese Prime Minister

(6) MILEY CYRUS

Musician

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