LET’S TALK NASTY

Last week we asked our readers to tell us what aspect of the increasingly nasty world of arts and entertainment bugged them the most. They responded. In some cases, quite nastily.

The most insidious type of nastiness is articles like yours (“Neo-Nasty,” by Lawrence Christon, Jim Harwood, Craig Bromberg, Jeff Greenfield, Robert Hilburn, Ruth Reichl and Dan Sullivan, June 21). Certainly everything you said is either true, or has some basis in fact. The nastiness comes from the systematic ignoring of everything that doesn’t support your thesis.

The unrelenting and merciless attack on television is probably the most unfair. Of course there is junk on television, but why is everything else ignored. Just what were your TV choices the week of June 14?

There were 174 movies on broadcast TV alone. Three times that on cable. You could have watched everything from “Purple Rose of Cairo” and “Pal Joey” to “Blood Wedding.” Fassbinder’s “Berlin Alexanderplatz” was on, as was a concert (Beethoven’s 4th and 7th symphonies) from Amsterdam and the Jacksonville Jazz Festival.

No one is forcing anyone to watch the local news on Channel 7; the “MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour” and “Washington Week in Review” give you a nice handle on the week’s news without “nastiness” and/or exploitation. You want lighter fare? Watch “Jeopardy!” or “MASH” reruns. Prime time? Ebert and Siskel, “Moonlighting,” “St. Elsewhere,” “Cheers.” You can learn to fix your car, gourmet cook on a budget and watch a funny old German man paint cute little totally unnasty oil paintings. But you’re still not satisfied!

You want music? Check the Calendar section. There is plenty for all tastes. You don’t like violence? Protest? Stay away from the Beastie Boys. . . .

There’s something for everybody in a city this size. The problem with articles like Calendar’s is that you imply that all the choices are “nasty.” The hypocritical and frightening aspect to all this is that those very choices are printed in the very same paper that denies their existence. Just think what a better use of your space it would be to give free advertising to the best rather than the worst.

PETER OSBALDESTON

Sepulveda