Handling a David Duke Interview

Tim Rutten has every right to reveal how his “fears came true” when he described David Duke’s appearance on the Phil Donahue show, and the audience’s response to Duke’s hidden hate message. (“David Duke: Our Fears Come True,” Nov. 15.)

Studies on hate and group antagonisms show they exist at a low level when society demonstrates such messages are un-American, counterproductive to democracy’s goals and threaten the rights of everyone.

However, (when hatemongering is) given excessive exposure, it sends a different message. And it finds greater acceptance when society is stressed and scapegoats are sought.

Able as Donahue is as an interviewer, at times he allows controversy to overflow into confrontation. The impact of TV as an educational medium makes it imperative that producers and hosts of such shows inject balance and caution, and remind the audience of the value of our democratic system and the need to ensure that no individual feels threatened by such personalities as David Duke.

The alternative is to allow personalities and causes to “shout fire in the crowded theater” of American society, with its large numbers of peoples from different backgrounds, classes, cultures and national origin. Such cries have been ruled outside of the purview of First Amendment freedom of speech protections.

HYMAN H. HAVES

Pacific Palisades