Thomas on Retailers Editing CDs and Videos

* Re “Main Street vs. Hollywood: Money Talks,” Column Right, Nov. 14: I am amazed that Cal Thomas would applaud Wal-Mart’s decision to censor popular music. Certainly, movies and song lyrics tend to be more sexually explicit today than they were years ago. But Thomas doesn’t seem to realize depicting sex or violence is far different than advocating it, and he is willing to judge films and songs by his values and not on their merits. Who is the “cultural dictator” here?

Thomas displays a frighteningly ignorant view of popular culture when he criticizes Nirvana, possibly the most brilliant rock band of the ‘90s, and Oliver Stone, a two-time Academy Award winner for his Vietnam War-themed movies. One of Nirvana’s more explicit songs is “Rape Me.” It probably wouldn’t occur to the Wal-Mart management that this is an anti-rape song, nor would it occur to Thomas, who is given to judge a CD (“Incestide”) by its title. And what would Stone’s movies be if they did not show the violence of war? The horror is not in cinematic violence; it is in leaving untold the violence of the real world.

Popular culture allows the younger generation to assert their voices and be heard, and it is a credit to Hollywood, whatever its faults, that they defend such free expression. I believe the arbiter of popular culture should be the people, and like it or not, they give a thumbs-up to the artists Thomas detests.

PHILIP HUANG

Irvine

* As a conservative, a columnist and a broadcaster, Thomas should be defending both free speech and an open marketplace. Instead, he rejoices in the perceived downfall of the entertainment industry as a “cultural dictator,” while ignoring the fact that the power would simply shift from one dictator (Hollywood) to another (Wal-Mart).

Why would “the places where average Americans shop” need to tell the entertainment industry that “their customers have had enough”? Don’t consumers do that themselves every day by their choice of purchases? I hope I’m not the only one who is terrified by the thought of Thomas, Wal-Mart and other retail stores deciding for me what I can see and read.

MICHAEL A. LEBUTT

Irvine

* I am worried about myself. I just read a column by Thomas that I agree with.

JAMES L. GLOVER

Sun Valley