Letters

FEAR FACTOR

Re: Paul Ciotti’s “If It Happened Here” [February 21–27]. Wow, L.A. Weekly, thanks for adding to the already omnipresent hysteria surrounding events which may or may not happen. What was Ciotti’s point in writing this article? He certainly doesn’t tell me what I can do to help protect myself — though he does provide a nicely detailed plan for any loony who might want to drop a bio/chem/ nerve agent on the city of Los Angeles. The only thing he accomplished with this article was to further terrorize an already frightened populace.

I won’t be reading the Weekly any longer. Nor will I patronize those who advertise in it.

—Valerie Malone Los Angeles

I’ve always thought it a good thing that Americans enjoy freedom of the press. However, your publication of Paul Ciotti’s unconscionable and irresponsible article is a perfect example of the abuse of that freedom. That you wasted so much space on a purely fictional story, that you developed it in such detail for the purpose of preying on public fear, and that you unjustly maligned general aviation — all serve to underscore an intention not to report the news but to create it, solely in order to sell your worthless rag. Reckless and obscene behavior under the protective guise of journalism serves only to degrade your profession and increase the public’s disrespect for and distrust of your industry. You should be ashamed that you printed such vacuous trash.

—Cyndia Haggard Overland Park, Kansas

Your paper has sunk to the “scare the crap out of you” tactics normally reserved for the director of Homeland Security and every major news network in America. What are we supposed to do? Move to Nebraska? No, we must continue to live our lives, but now with that much more worry, irrational thought, panic and depression. Right now the national news sources have a responsibility to provide accurate and informative news to its audience, not make a bad situation worse with dramatization and rash reporting.

—Jeffrey Baldinger Los Angeles

Paul Ciotti’s article does nothing but harm the aviation industry. The same story could hold true for a car, boat or other methods of transportation. General aviation always seems to take the hit. I am truly disappointed by this story.

—Jeff Cattrell Knoxville, Tennessee

SHARKS

Thanks so much to Erin Aubry Kaplan, in “Shark Patrol” [Cakewalk, February 14–20], for finally admitting what I have long suspected but heretofore could only accuse without evidence: L.A. Weekly writers live almost exclusively in an insular world of far-left media and influence, which makes your paper the moral and political polar equivalent of the radical religious right-wing media. You should now be able to understand why the majority of Americans tend to be in knee-jerk opposition to even reasonable proposals from the left, just as they are to the minor blurring of the lines between church and state that the right is always pushing. They see the anarchic agenda of liberal extremists to be remarkably similar to that of the religious right, who simply couch their ultimate desire in biblical terminology: Armageddon. Sane, reasonable and, yes, moderate discourse is the only thing that can save this country. Hand the reins over to you, Ms. Kaplan? No more than we’d hand them over to Pat Robertson.

—Tony Blass Winnetka

SHEEP

The irony of your “Don’t Be a Nation of Sheep” cover [February 21–27] is actually pretty cool. To me, the “sheep” label fits anyone following the prescribed, politically safe, least-resistance position, the proper thing to espouse at parties, i.e., no military confrontation of Iraq under any circumstances.

—James Rounds South Pasadena

FROM OUR CLEVELAND BUREAU

Re: Doug Ireland’s “Who’s the Real Peace Candidate?” [February 21–27]. Excuse me, but Dennis Kucinich as a presidential hopeful? How outrageous a notion! This is the man, the mayor, who brought Cleveland to its knees financially. Under his “leadership,” the city went into default. We were broke by the time George Voinovich took over. The city had no money. Standard & Poors downgraded Cleveland’s bond rating during Kucinich’s outgoing year.

I can’t believe Kucinich’s constituents have been so gullible as to elect him for four terms as a congressman. What has he done for them — in Congress or as mayor?

—Laura Carrabine Cleveland, Ohio

PLAYING WITH FIRE

In “Green Carpets and Ancient Elves” [February 14–20], John Payne makes a couple of false assumptions about the Rolling Stones concert to “Turn Up the Heat on Global Warming,” held at Staples Center on February 6. First, he guesses that the Stones “hardly ä donated their services” for the show; in fact, they didn’t receive a dime for performing the concert. (However, the expenses involved in putting on an event of this magnitude are considerable, and for that we have Steve Bing to thank.) John also implies that few of the stars in the crowd worry about global warming. On the contrary, many of the high-profile folks who attended are long-standing environmental advocates who donate their time, money and energy to a number of causes. Leonardo DiCaprio, Pierce Brosnan, Rob Reiner, Lisa Kudrow, Larry David — these are all people who care deeply that human behavior is causing global climate change and leading us towards imminent catastrophe.