County Fair’s Ethnic Attendance Is Irrelevant

Re “O.C.’s Latinos Are Missing Persons at the Fair,” Aug. 3:

The color counters are at it again, even at the Orange County Fair. Linda Martinez labeled and stereotyped the fair as a “whitey fair.” How racist, crude and rude. I had a great time going 16 days to the O.C. Fair. I’m not color-blind and saw many people of many ethnic groups having a wonderful time. Martinez should remove her white glasses.

Angela Duits

Seal Beach

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The “apples and oranges” fuzzy logic used by the writer led to an apparently predetermined conclusion, which can readily be seen by the emphasis of the article.

An equally appropriate headline could have been “O.C. Asians Are Missing Persons at the Fair.” Asian fair attendance was 3.8%, yet Asians make up 13.8% of Orange County’s population. Theirs was a much weaker showing than that of Latinos, according to the numbers given.

A better headline would have read “O.C. Youth Are Missing Persons at the Fair.” That would have reflected the fact that only 3.8% of attendees were under 18, while in Orange County 29.7% of the population is under 19.

Aside from the flawed analysis, it seems pretty ridiculous to expect or wish for any venue to be perfectly balanced based on county race or ethnicity figures. I have attended venues that were 95% Latino, but I don’t hear The Times bemoaning that situation, wondering where all the other folks are.

If the Fair Board decides to offer discounts to one ethnic group, there will be cries of discrimination from other groups, and rightfully so.

It sure would be nice if The Times would cease its drive to make sure the cake is always cut evenly, as this approach will inevitably result in divisiveness and strife.

Eric Bever

Costa Mesa