Letters: ‘Jesus Revolution,’ J.Ok. Rowling, ‘Dilbert’ and drag
‘Revolution’ soft-pedals
Katie Walsh is so proper on in her criticism of “The Jesus Revolution!” [“They Know Not What They Do,” Feb. 23]. I used to be there on the Orange County coast 50 years in the past and really concerned within the motion.
I noticed the film on Feb. 24 and to its credit score it’s superbly filmed with nice surroundings of the Newport Beach shoreline, the actors are nice, and it does depict each the constructive and a few of the inside conflicts of the motion.
The movie doesn’t go far sufficient. It fails to say that Chuck Smith condemned gays and lesbians. I properly recall a Sunday morning sermon through which he declared, “They’re called queers because that’s what they are — queers!” This was lengthy earlier than the acronym “LGBTQ” was fashioned.
The movie doesn’t point out that Smith embraced Hal Lindsey’s e-book, “The Late Great Planet Earth,” and preached that Henry Kissinger’s surname matched the mark of the Beast and “bore watching” because the potential Antichrist.
The movie doesn’t point out that Smith preached the upcoming rapture of Christians and the return of Jesus of Nazareth to planet Earth. And so passionately that he ordered the message “Jesus is coming soon…” on the outside wall of his new sanctuary. Several years later the message was eliminated as a result of all of that by no means occurred.
Sure, the Jesus Revolution helped 1000’s of hippies to get off of medicine. But solely by getting hooked on a unique drug — Jesus as preached by Smith and his trainees. And this drug has not labored for everybody.
Misdirected religion and beliefs may be illusive and generally harmful.
David William Salvaggio
Redlands
Deep dive into drag
Thank you to Christopher Knight for the brilliantly well-written commentary on drag [“Don’t Be a Drag, Just Be a Queen,” Feb. 23]. It was nice to examine the best way drag deliberately confounds sexism’s definitions about what a fascinating girl or actual man appears like. And how drag, for even nonperforming younger and outdated, is usually a brave act of defending their very own sense of self.
Mom and Dad took me to a drag present in San Francisco again within the ’60s, after I was an impressionable preteen. The jokes largely went over my head, however the sense of full-out exuberance in being who you’re was a tonic in a time when being a lady was to be thought-about less-than and most choices provided to younger ladies had been to be a buttoned-down housewife, nurse, instructor or mom.
I like the best way being a girl is each celebrated and critiqued by drag on the similar time.
Suvan Geer
Santa Ana
Where have all of the individuals gone?
Mary McNamara’s column describing the exodus of half 1,000,000 Californians to different states [“Despite Exodus, State’s Still in a Jam,” Feb. 20] was an eye-opener.
As a Maryland transplant a few years in the past I used to be particularly impressed together with her astute commentary that “the absence of anything approaching a decent crab cake” is one in every of a number of causes given. I’ve been trying to find one in SoCal for 55 years with out success, so I really feel her ache.
I hope she’s going to reward her readers if she ever finds one.
Paul Updegrove
Sherman Oaks
Not that simple to disregard
I used to be disenchanted that Mary McNamara, whose columns I often take pleasure in, determined to make use of her platform to weigh in towards J.Ok. Rowling and Rowling’s protection of women-only areas [“It’s Time to Just Ignore J.K. Rowling,” Feb. 21].
Rather than have empathy for girls who’ve been bodily abused by males (as Rowling has been by her ex-husband) or girls who’ve been raped, McNamara’s snarky column appeared solely to have empathy for trans girls who nonetheless have male genitals and want to use women-only areas.
McNamara writes: “Rowling’s own trauma is terrible and undeniable. It does not, however, grant her special insight into the transgender community.”
What does McNamara imply? Rowling doesn’t declare to have perception into the transgender group. She claims to have perception from her personal expertise into the group of girls who’ve skilled abuse by the hands of males (or, “people with penises”) or who worry that they may develop into a sufferer of male sexual violence.
Rowling stands up for these girls, however McNamara doesn’t.
It shouldn’t be transphobic to state the truth that girls proceed to undergo sexual violence and abuse by the hands of males and deserve women-only protected areas. It could also be unlucky that in defending that relatively massive group of girls, some trans girls who would by no means damage a girl could not be capable of use sure bogs, spas or different women-only areas.
Speaking out to guard girls from triggering or potential abuse shouldn’t be transphobic and isn’t saying that every one trans girls are abusers, simply as it isn’t saying that every one males are abusers.
Joanne Parrent
Los Angeles
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Do I agree with Rowling? I don’t know. But the one arguments I’ve seen on the matter don’t truly deal with her level; they only accuse her of transphobia.
Accusing Rowling of transphobia likely feels good, nevertheless it under no circumstances addresses her argument.
Barry Carlton
El Cajon
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We dwell in a horribly male-dominated society. Women are raped and abused by males each second, minute, hour, day, life. Yet we’re demanding that girls settle for our dominators and abusers in our locker rooms, with their sexual organs totally uncovered.
Perhaps one can argue that time if girls had been completely equal to males and had been valued and liked, however that’s not actuality. So till girls have equality and worth, no male sexual organs allowed in girls’s locker rooms.
Kathryn Kosmeya-Dodge
Santa Monica
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Thank you to McNamara for saying what she stated about J.Ok. Rowling. It merely wanted to be stated.
Marie Mulligan
Manhattan Beach
Differing on ‘Dilbert’
I used to be happy to see that the L.A. Times has joined many different newspapers across the nation in rightly discontinuing the cartoon strip “Dilbert,” as a lot as I’ve loved it over time [“Comics Change,” Feb. 27].
I’m amazed that Scott Adams would harm his profession in such a reckless approach by mouthing clearly racist and merciless views. This has nothing to do with “political correctness” or “wokeism.” It’s about decency and good manners, which he ought to have realized from his dad and mom.
Doug Weiskopf
Burbank
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Why within the title of wokeness have you ever made the choice to cancel the “Dilbert” cartoon? It is by far the most effective of your comics.
I can solely guess the pointy-head boss should have been behind this.
Wally could be pleased with you.
Chris Bisgaard
Eagle, Idaho
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Anyone who has adopted “Dilbert” for a few years should admit that the strip has devolved from a mordant commentary on the company office to a barely hidden right-wing assault on any company effort to extend variety, inclusiveness or ecological consciousness.
But even worse, it’s simply not humorous anymore.
It in all probability ought to have been dropped a very long time in the past, however now that Adams has revealed his true nature as a racist, it needed to be dropped.
And to Elon Musk and different Adams defenders: This has nothing in anyway to do with free speech. The proper to free speech applies to governments, to not what newspapers select to print (or what distributors select to distribute).
Racism shouldn’t be acceptable and ought to be banished from the general public sphere every time potential.
David Weber
Hollywood
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Thank you for eradicating his strip. Although very humorous and true many occasions, Scott Adams is clearly a racist.
The Times wants its personal editorial cartoonist: Bring again Michael Ramirez! He is sharp and would get the readers engaged with a unique viewpoint.
The late, nice Paul Conrad did precisely that when The Times was conservative And he was not!
Mary Dickinson
Alta Loma
Alternative bookstores
Melissa Gomez’s story [“‘Queen of Pasadena’ Inspires a Dream Move,” Feb. 19] says Nikki High’s bookstore was not the primary one in Los Angeles to be owned by a girl of shade, however you solely return to 2019 to quote potential candidates for who is perhaps first.
I consider my spouse, Julie Swayze, was the primary. In 2006, she opened Metropolis Books on Main Street, within the coronary heart of DTLA. Scott Timberg did a function story on our opening and Nita Lelyveld coated our closing on the entrance web page of the Sunday, Sept. 18, 2011, version of the Los Angeles Times.
Steve Bowie
Pasadena
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Kudos to Nikki High and Octavia’s Bookshelf, a much-needed addition to the Altadena/Pasadena Black and Latino communities.
It can be essential to acknowledge Rita Dyson, the proprietor of the Altadena/Pasadena Black and Latino Multicultural Bookstore, which opened in 1989 [“Altadena Store Offers Books on Minorities,” Dec. 27] and closed in 1993 [“A Common Cause: Rita Dyson Is Struggling to Save Her Most Uncommon Bookstore,” Sept. 13] after monetary challenges; a flood that destroyed the bookstore, requiring her to maneuver to a unique location; and native squabbles about ethnic identification and labels that proceed to this present day [“My Black Ancestors Were Erased From My Family’s Memory,” Feb. 13; “I Don’t Call Myself Latinx, but the Conservative War Against it Is Ludicrous,” Feb. 15].
My household, my former college students, and my Altadena and Pasadena colleagues and neighbors have fond recollections of Rita’s heat greeting on the door, vigorous shows and superb books from Children’s Book Press, Aunt Lute, Latin American publishers, Africana research and different books that described the variety of experiences of nonwhite individuals.
My younger youngsters and college students relished seeing themselves portrayed within the youngsters’s books that Rita carried in her retailer. To this present day they’re avid readers and I credit score her efforts and her braveness in opening her bookstore, a primary in our Pasadena/Altadena communities.
And to Nikki High, this group is the precise area for you.
Suzette Vidal
Altadena