• U.S.

Letters, Nov. 3, 1980

7 minute read
TIME

Voters’ Dilemma

To the Editors:

As the presidential campaign draws to a close [Oct. 13], Jimmy Carter has persuaded me not to vote for Ronald Reagan; Reagan has persuaded me not to vote for Carter; John Anderson has persuaded me not to vote for Anderson. What do I do now?

John J. Burkhart Grosse Pointe Park, Mich.

In view of the dismal record of the Carter Administration, giving it an encore would be like securing your kite to an anchor—no place to go but down.

Patrick E. Freeman Great Falls, Mont.

For a long time we have been riding the gravy train of vast, cheap natural resources and cheap energy. “Cheap” has gone, and we now face change in our economic structure, our social fabric and our political structure. I doubt if Ronald Reagan is even aware of this. Jimmy Carter has his faults, but at least he understands that we are in a changing world.

Edmund Lloyd Middletown, N. Y.

This year my vote goes to Reagan. He seems determined to do something about the economy and give the workingman a chance for a decent life.

Scott Hillesland Seattle

If voting for Anderson in November is “throwing away” my vote, then that is my decision. I cannot, in good conscience, vote for either Carter or Reagan.

Harriet Peltzman Eatontown, N.J.

I keep hearing that the American people are throwing away democracy if they refuse to vote.

Would those folks who intend to vote for the lesser of two evils have endorsed Mussolini because they didn’t like Hitler? I do not feel that anybody has the right to badger people into voting against their own standards.

Anne-Dorothée Mongere Dallas

If Carter, Reagan and Anderson were If Carter, Reagan and Anderson were in a boat and it began to sink, who would be saved? The country.

Denis Moynihan Pittsburgh, N. Y.

Politics from the Pulpit

The rise to political significance of a self-styled Moral Majority [Oct. 13], with the unavoidable implication that those who don’t share its views are immoral and evil, is to me a frightening development. History shows that nothing else is so provocative of wrath as the threat of having someone else’s moral and religious views imposed on you.

Robert G. Vaughn Randleman, N.C.

Any Christian familiar with biblical morality knows that racial discrimination is as much a sin as abortion or homosexuality. We who take the Bible literally (and I do not apologize for that) know that we will be held accountable if we ignore the needs of the poor, if we fail to take care of the environment that God created, or if we seek personal peace and prosperity at the expense of people in struggling Third World countries.

Ann E. Burkhead Beaver Falls, Pa.

While I do not concur with all statements coming out of the Moral Majority position, I appreciate that some Christian group is taking a moral stand. The mainline churches have done much to encourage moral disorder by pressing the idea that Christianity is evolutionary and under the control of current-day consensus.

Wesley L. Fankhauser Seattle

I’ll never understand how today’s conservative television evangelists manage to keep from blushing as they try to convince their congregations that Christ would want them to vote Republican.

If a holocaust is ever visited upon our blessed land, it won’t be brought about by ERA marchers, civil libertarians, environmentalists, welfare programs or liberal courts. It will be at the hands of pushbutton zealots who can tolerate only one way of living and thinking, and who attack all other perspectives and philosophies of life as sinful and corrupt.

Michael Anglin Dallas

Faculty Silence

Your article about the University of Georgia’s denying tenure to Maija Blaubergs [Oct. 6] was scary. It sounds like the beginning of a totalitarian state. Judge Owens is violating the concept of the secret ballot by demanding that faculty members reveal how they voted. Next the Government will want to prohibit secret voting in unions, professional organizations, civic organizations, corporations, and finally in the general elections.

Thomas W. Noonan Brockport, N. Y.

Any laborer has the right to be given a reason if he is fired. Departments and divisions in colleges and universities are infested with petty politics, envy and self-serving attitudes. If a confident, creative, talented faculty member does not adhere to the proper line, he runs the risk of being driven out. If a person is fired, he deserves the right to know the reasons and who said them.

George C. Thompson Waldorf, Md.

Your article on the growing row over “peer review” implied that the academic community was overwhelmingly in favor of secret deliberations regarding faculty hirings and promotions. In fact, a good many academics would welcome a more open evaluation process. The prevalence of cronyism and prejudice in faculty advancement has diminished in recent years, but the only way to stamp it out entirely is to make these peer-review deliberations open to those with a legitimate involvement.

Peter Gottlieb Los Angeles

That’s Abominable!

“Reality shows” like That’s Incredible! [Oct. 13] that encourage dangerous stunts not only insult the intelligence of the American public, but also encourage the notion that an individual must accomplish some spectacular feat to determine his or her worth. This is a most dangerous idea, emotionally and psychologically, as well as physically.

Marianne Canedo Smithtown, N. Y.

The only incredible thing about That’s

Incredible! is that it is incredibly tasteless.

Mary-Jane Febbroriello

Harwinton, Conn.

For those people who try to get on the show, I suggest the title That’s Incredible Masochism. For those people who watch the show, I suggest That’s Incredible Sadism as a suitable title.

Bob Wilson Jamestown, N. Y.

Three Angry Men

Let’s hear it for the three Chicago judges [Oct. 13] who have shown they have the guts to deal with repeat criminal offenders realistically, swiftly and sternly. With a few more like them, the law-abiding public may yet have a chance in this contest with crime.

Frank Powell Florence, Ala.

Catholics Nix Fix

It is sad that the Roman Catholic Church decided not to continue publication of the Review of films [Oct. 6]. It is sadder that the film industry has chosen not to take responsibility for producing films of moral quality. Going to the movies should be an entertaining, and only occasionally a learning, experience. But if we are assaulted by the language and actions on the screen, it is no pleasure.

Bob and Ann Kennedy Tucker, Ga.

Your article misrepresents the motivation of the U.S. Catholic Conference in terminating the Review. The U.S.C.C.’s film reviews and ratings are currently carried in 120 newspapers across the U.S. It was the cost of producing a separate, much less widely circulated publication —not any reaction to the changes in public morality or the church as you suggest —that was the rationale for this decision. The Catholic Church will continue to offer parents balanced and morally responsible appraisals of the products of this influential entertainment medium.

Richard H. Hirsch, Secretary of Communication, U.S. Catholic Conference New York City

Viking Hygiene

Your article on the Viking exhibit at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum [Oct. 13] contains a quote from Historian Ibn Fadlan wherein, speaking about the Volga Vikings, he states, “and they do not wash themselves after sex.” Yet the Danish Vikings, according to one John of Wallingford, were “hated for their habit of combing their hair every day, taking a bath every Saturday, and changing their woollens at regular intervals.” Obviously the Danes brought these habits to England with them. The Volga Vikings may have been a less immaculate bunch, but let’s not call all Vikings slobs.

Linda Albelo New York City

As a child in The Netherlands I was reminded daily by my mother of the Viking “monster” reputation. At bedtime, one of the more chilling prayers was, “From the Norsemen deliver us, Lord!” Apparently the aftermath of a witness’s account, it was sustained in my mother’s family for a thousand years.

Jan Anthony Verlaan Pensacola, Fla.

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