Debate Continues Over NEA Grants

Attacks on artists and intellectuals are reminiscent of similar attacks in countries that moved into repressive and fascist totalitarianism: Nazi Germany, Stalinist U.S.S.R., the so-called “cultural revolution” in China and more recently Czechoslovakia, among others. In each case artists were muzzled and persecuted because they symbolize and practice free, unfettered thought and social criticism.

Can it happen here? You bet it can. It is up to all citizens, whether we understand and/or approve of the targeted art, to clearly recognize that the fraying of the First Amendment begins with seemingly small inroads, focused on narrow and unpopular issues.

RACHEL ROSENTHAL

Los Angeles