Letters to the Editor – August 20, 2023
Baldwin’s denial
No matter how many forensic weapons experts (even if they are highly respected in their field) think that Alec Baldwin must have pulled the trigger on the .45 caliber Colt revolver that killed Halyna Hutchins, he will continue to deny that he squeezed him (“Alec ‘triggered’ it,” August 17).
Anyone who handles guns of any kind will agree: if someone hands you a gun, under all circumstances assume it is loaded until you prove to yourself that it is not.
If Alec Baldwin had done that, Halyna Hutchins would be alive today. It’s his fault.
Dick Mills, BardoniA
Unjust Arrest
Tashawn Bernard of Michigan was racially profiled at just 12 (“Bungling cops bust boy, 12,” August 14).
Lansing Police made a very serious mistake by not conducting a more thorough investigation prior to Tashawn’s arrest.
The officers should have asked for an ID – or, failing that, where they came from. Then maybe they would have realized that he was completely wrong.
Also, it was reported that the color of his shirt did not match the color of the suspect that Lansing police were looking for. Such actions by the police create great tension.
It’s terrible that doing chores outside of your home can become a stressful situation when you’re a person of color.
Being so young and going through this is problematic and should be a real wake-up call for law enforcement officers across America. This is unacceptable and just plain wrong.
Alim Howell, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
I’m fed up with the fear
That’s enough. We’re three years on from the pandemic, but fear porn lingers in the media (“Going out to the game increases flu risk from being on the stove,” August 13).
Middle-aged and elderly patients died alone in hospital rooms while distraught family members looked on from behind glass. Children were excluded from school, which negatively affected their education and feelings.
Now some economists claim there is a link between sports facilities and a 25% increase in influenza mortality. I would have found this article amusing if I hadn’t been so angry.
L. Wesselmann, Carlsbad, California.
Exorcism Lore
Contrary to what Nat Segaloff says in Caroline Howe’s article, not every Catholic community has an exorcist (“50 Years of Fright,” PostScript, Books, August 13).
The absurdity of this should be obvious. From a practical point of view, that would mean that most priests would be exorcists. You are not.
It’s possible that any big enough diocese would have someone qualified to perform exorcisms, but I’m not sure that’s even true.
Finally, to claim that only Christians consider possessions evil is an oversimplification. It depends on! In ancient cultures, what we call possession was often viewed as a good or neutral event, depending on who was possessing it.
The Vodun religion deliberately cultivates possession in specific contexts. However, the idea that possessions are never considered evil by other religions is wrong.
John Kelleher, Somerville, NJ
Anti-Israeli bunk
The infiltration of anti-Semitic rhetoric into higher education continues (“‘Anti Israel’ Ivy U. furor,” August 13).
The most recent example is the use of anti-Israel reading materials by a Rutgers University professor at Princeton University.
Imagine the media outrage if Princeton offered an anti-Islamic book.
Samuel Frazer, Fort Myers, Fla.
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