Letters to the Editor

Culture's role in violence

Quentin Tarantino fails to realize that popular culture, including films that explicitly depict graphic violence, has a significant impact on people like the shooters at Sandy Hook, Aurora, and Blacksburg ("The question not to ask Tarantino," Saturday). His comment that movie violence has nothing to do with real life absurdly denies the fact that the Aurora shooter was dressed like a villain from a Batman movie during his rampage. And who can believe that any mass shooter has taught himself how to kill so many people so efficiently without having seen a similar act in a film?

While the Newtown massacre was a failure of the mental-health system and a consequence of inadequate gun regulation, it was also a result of an increasingly desensitized culture. Tarantino is at least partially responsible for that desensitizing.

Thomas Dwyer, Hollywood, Pa.

Accepting torture, assassinations

I agree that "'enhanced interrogation techniques' i.e. torture" did not play a significant role in the apprehension and killing of Osama bin Laden ("Movie is wrong about torture," Thursday).

However, I disagree with the assertion that "the public conscience would never accept" torture. On the contrary, I believe that torture and targeted assassinations (even of American citizens) have become acceptable as a method of war to large segments of the population. Witness our use of drone attacks to kill opposition leaders, as well as innocent civilians; the killing rather than the capture of bin Laden (a foreign policy triumph, according to some); and our continuing detention of prisoners in Guantanamo.

We are no longer the post-World War II good guys, and we seem to have accepted that fact.

P.M. Procacci, Moorestown

Leader for social justice

The passing of Wendell W. Young III has been marked with descriptions of his wonderful accomplishments ("A leader in the Pa. labor movement," Thursday). I want to mention his efforts on behalf of social-justice issues.

Young was passionate about making changes in the Catholic Church following the grand-jury reports on clergy child sexual abuse. He became a member of the steering committee of Voice of the Faithful, Greater Philadelphia, which helps victims of child sexual abuse, supports priests of integrity, and demands accountability from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. In addition, Young was a member of Justice4PAKids, an organization that seeks to help victims of child sexual abuse.

Young's passion and dedication will be sorely missed.

Nancy Mortimer O'Brien, Lafayette Hill

Toomey's bipartisan leadership

Once again, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) has shown exemplary bipartisan leadership. By voting for the Senate's "fiscal cliff" compromise, Toomey demonstrated that he is willing to reach across the aisle and cooperate to get things done in Washington. Toomey's ability to get past the bitter rhetoric and support making tax cuts permanent for 98 percent of Americans is noteworthy, and he will surely take heat from members of his party. Although this was not likely his preferred deal, Toomey acted to protect an overwhelming majority of Americans, and I applaud him.

Maurice Goodman, Philadelphia