Proposed Merger of Viacom, CBS

* Re “Viacom, CBS to Merge in Record $37-Billion Deal,” Sept. 8:

History repeats itself. Unadulterated greed, the few massing great wealth on the backs of the struggling who are losing ground, working more and more hours for less and less security. The Gilded Age all over again, except this time the stakes are even higher as our minds are seduced by the garbage these new communication powerhouses produce and we allow them to take over our living rooms, our leisure and our culture.

Last year Viacom stacked huge numbers of Jerry Springer’s video, “Too Hot for TV,” at the checkout counter of your local Blockbuster, hoping to entice families to reach for it, take it home, consume it. I saw a little guy, about 6, pulling on his mom to “please get it, Mommy.” The tired mother did. Another strike at “family values.” Every stockholder should be accountable.

All of us who love democracy, who care about America’s kids and are sickened by the dumbing down of our culture will someday stand up and say, “What happened? Where did we lose ourselves and our values?” We are watching the alternative voices gobbled up by the big guys. The foxes are again enlarging their henhouse, and we chickens are barely letting out a peep.

JUDITH MARKOFF HANSEN

San Francisco

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I found it funny that a newspaper owned by media conglomerate Times Mirror would write an editorial (Sept. 9) blasting the CBS-Viacom merger for fears of too much centralized power and media ownership in too few hands. This from the same publication that has been trying to make L.A. a one-paper town for years, hoping to subject its 10 million inhabitants to only one point of view: its own.

HALE ANTICO

Pasadena

*

I thought it could never happen, but it has: I’ve finally admired a Michael Ramirez cartoon. His cartoon of Sept. 9, depicting TV garbage before and after the Viacom merger, is exactly on target: TV garbage is TV garbage no matter how big the container. Good job, Michael.

LAUREL HALL

Whittier