HomeOpinionLetters to the editor

Letters to the editor

The alert was uncalled for

- Advertisement -

The only thing that the 4:45 p.m. wireless public safety alert asking us to stay home did was remind us how we are on the verge of a Stalinist, Orwellian litany of draconian states that now include Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. It was a total misuse of the alert systems and whoever’s idea it was should be fired along with the boss for approving it. For the people who weren’t following the “state regulations,” it just reinforced the concept that they were going to do what they wanted to do anyway. The “state” actually chased them from an outdoor drinking setting to an indoor setting. Closing these bars at 5 last Wednesday just moved the get-together nights to Friday and Saturday. And these are the same people who are going to have the big dinners. Meanwhile, the people who are following the state regulations are being treated like second-graders. Maybe I got two things out of this alert, the second being a rallying cry to push for a Republican governor. There’s no better time than now to start.

Richard Donofry

East Torresdale

Step in, EPA

Bruce Sloan is totally right on the UPS plan to take over and destroy Northeast Philadelphia with a mega warehouse and distribution center/24-hour operation. Disturbing taxpayers’ sleep and bringing additional trucks to the area, resulting in not just more traffic, but more air pollution and more crime. The value of people’s homes that many are paid off in full will plummet. No real live meetings with the coronavirus, as they try to bulldoze over citizens of Philadelphia’s rights. Exactly how many offices does UPS already have in the city and Bucks and Montgomery counties? Where’s the transparency and where are our elected officials on this? Where is the EPA on this and other matters? At Knights Road and Waldemire Drive, in creek and park land, there are plans to build homes and bulldoze the creek and homes of animals. No response from the EPA. I’ve sent cease-and-desist letters as well as emails to the real estate office and been ignored.

Susan P. Guest

Millbrook

Stop the biocaust of deer

The Spiral of Injustice is a model created by the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights for discussing the Holocaust where mostly Jews were murdered en masse. A depiction of this downward spiral begins with language, devolving through intolerance into discrimination and culminating in the deliberate destruction of human life.

The model is useful in also discussing the mass killing of nonhuman animals. One can draw some notable parallels here between the life experiences of the human and nonhuman.

David Cantor, executive director, Responsible Policies for Animals, coined the term “biocaust” to define the widespread destruction of animals and the living world. Closer to home, we see the massacre of deer in Fairmount Park year after year. Wrongly called “culls,” these expanding and unrelenting violent physical attacks will continue with the goal of “obliteration.” One familiar professional and proficient deer serial killer even characterized these as “remote euthanasia.”  Imagine.

It’s been said that language is at the root of injustice. Words are powerful. They foster prejudice, intolerance and oppression. Early on, deer were called “rats with hooves” and “noxious weeds,” among other denigrating terms. There was never a kind word. Expressions of empathy, compassion and respect are almost never heard even today. Saying nothing sends a message that injustice is acceptable. It isn’t.

Prejudice or discrimination based on species, not sound science, has led to the abusive and destructive wildlife policies of today; most familiar to us here are those affecting deer. Philadelphia Advocates for the Deer will continue to expose and debunk the fallacies that sustain the ongoing killing of deer. Egregious flaws in the 1996 final report on deer should have invalidated it as a sound basis for killing the deer in Wissahickon Valley Park. This fiasco has now infected all of Fairmount Park. Education is key to understanding the needs and contributions of deer as well as how human practices and interference play a huge role in deer ecology. Our goal is to secure freedom from the threat that comes to take countless lives in the dark of night. We will be their voice until true justice is achieved.

Writer and activist Joan Dunayer reminded readers of her book Speciesism, “that no cause is more important or more just than nonhuman emancipation.”

Bridget W. Irons

Chestnut Hill

Mary Ann Baron

West Mount Airy

Learn to get along

What if we were invaded by aliens intent on destroying civilization. Would we all finally work together for the common good? Will blacks and whites respect each other and realize that the only race is the human race? Will the Sunni and Shiite Muslims end hostility after fighting for 1,300 years. Could the Palestinians and Israelis work out a compromise and agree to draw borders that are workable for both sides rather than resort to tit-for-tat retaliations. Peacemakers are killed by their own people. Gandhi by a fellow Hindu, Sadat by a fellow Egyptian, Rabin by a fellow Israeli. If this hostility could end, maybe even Democrats and Republicans could work together for the benefit of our country? Coming soon is the time of year for “peace on earth and good will toward men”. Do we need an invasion from outer space to simply learn to get along?

Mel Flitter

Somerton

Don’t incite sedition

We are witnessing an attempt to subvert our election process through demagoguery and disinformation.

While we understand that in every election there are winners and losers, never before in our national history have we seen such dishonesty and blatant attempt to deceive in order to overturn the results of an election.

Now we must ask, at what point do such acts become sedition? Are the actions by the current administration in effect “incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority”? As an example, the call by some elected officials in Pennsylvania, all Republicans, to question the certification of our election results for no good reason other than they are unhappy with the results.

It is with this question that I ask, how do we go about prosecuting these acts of sedition? How do “We The People” file a complaint against them and insist they be prosecuted? Can we also name their enablers? Those who fund them and propagate the false statements that are inciting violence in our nation?

We must defend our nation. True patriots uphold the law, they don’t incite sedition. And it is time we put a stop to it.

Lisa Longo

Phoenixville

RELATED ARTICLES
Philadelphia
overcast clouds
50.2 ° F
52.3 °
48 °
87 %
4.5mph
100 %
Thu
50 °
Fri
55 °
Sat
56 °
Sun
65 °
Mon
59 °
- Advertisment -

STAY CONNECTED

11,235FansLike
2,089FollowersFollow

Recent Articles

Honoring Vietnam veterans Friday at Mission BBQ

Mission BBQ, 11000 Roosevelt Blvd., will honor Vietnam War veterans on Friday, March 29, with an offer of a free sandwich. The giveaway is a...