Rosen on Fathers

* I laughed, I cried, I applauded . . . I sighed. Ruth Rosen had recruited this angry white male conservative to her side (Column Left, March 21). The solution to youth violence should be a matter of bilateral agreement: Legislation must be enacted to hold all fathers equally responsible for the children they sire.

Surely it is no mystery that without mature, paternal guidance, adolescents are developing their own street societies, forming wolf packs (read: gangs) and responding to life’s very difficult challenges by lashing out immediately and violently.

Rosen is right when she demands that initiatives should be drawn up which bind fathers and mothers equally to their offspring. However, lightly suggesting a modern male tax, rounding up and confining all married men at the age of 50 and mass vasectomies, are fine ways to ensure her otherwise potent message looks like so much more angry liberal drivel. Too bad. I was listening.

H. SAM SAMUELSON

San Diego