The Barefoot Billionaire and Uncle Sam

Geffen speaks of being outraged by the speeches delivered by former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan and the Rev. Pat Robertson at the Republican Convention. As a serious Christian ( evangelical would probably be the best label), I would like Geffen to know that millions of us were outraged as well.

Geffen must realize that there is no philosophically monolithic “Christian right” out there. This is a myth, often perpetuated by the fear-mongering, fund-raising letters of the ACLU. Buchanan quickly dropped from sight. As for Robertson, if he is the political darling of the “Christian right,” how come he failed so miserably in the primaries in ‘88? (Don’t forget, we supposedly represent a voting block of nearly 50 million people!)

Mr. Geffen, please realize that if we Christians have an agenda, it is simply a “decency agenda.” In our pluralistic republic, we are entitled to our voice in the competing marketplace of ideas. We feel that the rights-intoxicated, secularized, value-free left has essentially been promoting a nihilistic agenda with no sense of “moral” (there’s that word!) obligation.

But, Mr. Geffen, even you have your moral limits, to wit: your aversion to violent rap music that transmits the message that it’s OK to kill cops and mutilate women.

Why do you think so many of us are upset with the reductionist tendencies of so many filmmakers (and musicians) these days? We are constantly bombarded by the curious mix of shock value, the ugly and the sensational.

What I think that the powerbrokers, such as yourself, fail to realize is that just as a society has the capacity to pollute its rivers, forests and air, it can also pollute its collective soul.

BOB PIERCE

Beverly Hills