Letters to the Editor

Peace-Less Network

Long Beach Area Peace Network calls themselves a peace network in their [Sept. 5 “War Mongering”] letter to the editor, but their vocabulary shows them to be a partisan hate network. Their posts:

Do not say anything about the horrific barbaric terror of Hamas

Do not say anything about the fate of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza

Do not say anything about hopes for a two-state solution

All their perspectives are about vilifying, as was clearly evident with the hate-filled rhetoric in their letter. They don’t even broach the concept of bridge building.

David Alpern

Jimmy Kimmel Fired

I don’t want to offend anyone – -most of my friends are conservative – -but if any president had the direct authority or the political influence to kick David Letterman or Jay Leno off the air back in the day just because they made fun of them in a malicious way, now you’ve got a serious threat to democracy. Those guys made fun of their bosses way more than Jimmy Kimmel. Letterman, in particular, was absolutely relentless in his scathing verbal attacks on the NBC brass, every single night.

Don’t get me wrong. Kimmel was an easy target and I never watched him precisely because he lost his good humor long ago and was so political. He was also stupid for not following Johnny Carson’s mantra that late night hosts should remain apolitical if they want to remain popular.

But what if a really talented comedian comes along who walks the tightrope successfully – being funny, popular, anti-establishment, (or God forbid) anti-Trump, at the same time?

You think this administration, with skin thinner than toilet paper, is going to allow that kind of irreverence? No way! They are going to apply “political pressure” to that comedian’s boss to get rid of them or else.

But what if you have a super-rich, self-employed comedian who doesn’t need a boss but spews controversial material that pisses Trump off? Someone like George Carlin?

Now you’ve got a case like that of “The People vs. Larry Flynt” in which a rich but vile pornographer – who was so hated that his shooter didn’t miss – still won his Supreme Court case against plaintiff and wealthy evangelist Jerry Falwell, precisely because the court determined there was no degree of written or verbal hate to which the first amendment is limited.

That leads me to my real concern: The Supreme Court back then is nothing like it is now. With Trump’s fingerprints all over it and all his associations based on personal loyalty instead of competence, who’s to say that this administration can’t go after beloved comedic giants like Dave Chapelle?

I ask all of you now in this Town Hall meeting: Who should be in charge of what is deemed “funny”? The church lady? The comic who wrote the material? Or the government? How about some partisan oversight committee?

Do we then have to tear down the statues of Will Rogers and Mark Twain? Just remember, folks, there are no comedy clubs in communist or fascist societies.

Unfortunately, hate speech is legal too (right now) and when it comes to the first amendment, everyone is protected, save for employees fired by bosses. What I’m worried about is an increase in cases in which the employer fires an employee secretly for their political affiliation but disguise it as office-related infractions due to political pressure from above. If this becomes a trend, it will be reminiscent of the McCarthyism that developed nearly 70 years ago. And guess who was right there with the notorious senator fanning the flames? None other than Leo Cohen, our current president’s mentor. How ironic.

As for what just transpired, I’d say that both the comedian and the commentator were in over their heads. If they were not, then both would still be alive and employed today.

In the words of Edward R. Murrow, “Good night and good luck.”

Bob Senske (on Facebook)