‘I Was Appalled’ at Story on Bullfighter

I was appalled that you would choose to publish the article by Alan Citron on American bullfighter Kent Goodman who, in my opinion, is anything but “a nice Jewish boy”! Nor is he even a good Jew, for the Jewish religion teaches a reverence for all animal life. (Times, Sept. 15)

The barbaric tradition of bullfighting is specifically mentioned in the Torah. In a civilized society, there is no place for bullfighting or any of the gory “sports” that exploit and murder animals. Throwing Christians in the lions’ den was once considered a traditional “sport” and not so long ago, white men owned black slaves in this country but, hopefully, we all become more civilized as we go along.

That this type of article was published in the Westside section of the Los Angeles Times is of particular concern. Surely in West Hollywood, we need to be especially careful to uphold the rights of all human beings, as well as animals--to never violate or disregard those rights.

This American bullfighter, while accusing us of not understanding the nature of the event, does not himself understand simple compassion for an unfortunate animal that he would torture and kill for his own gratification. Why in the world would you choose to bring attention to him? I resent it!

We hope, in future, that you would bring us articles that condemn rather than glorify animal abuse and exploitation.

JUNE AVERSENG

West Hollywood