POOR PAUL SIMON

Didn’t America’s artistic community learn anything from the blacklists of the ‘50s? The United Nations’ cultural boycott list (read blacklist by any other name) as outlined in Hilburn’s article is another example of artistic suicide.

I agree that performing in South Africa is morally wrong due to the apartheid practiced there, just as it is also morally wrong to perform in the Soviet Union due to the treatment of Soviet Jews and the war in Afghanistan. But it is a decision each artist must make for himself.

I detested Jane Fonda’s visit to North Vietnam and will not personally pay to see her perform, but place her on a cultural boycott list? Never.

Save lists for laundry, groceries, and Mr. Blackwell.

RICHARD B. POLLACK

Sunland