Not funny, and not appropriate

Re “Voting for stupidity,” Opinion,

Nov. 15

OK, first of all, nobody likes to be called “stupid” when she opens up her morning paper (especially those of us who are trying to be conscientious and responsible by voting and staying abreast of issues).

Second, why discourage nonvoters even more by providing them with another reason to justify their failure to participate? Low voter turnout was still a problem the last time I looked. Voting in the special election did send a message that this type of election is ineffective and a waste of money -- so there was a purpose served by voting.

Third, if this is the type of writing we can expect from your Robert Scheer replacement, I am disappointed. Humor has its place, but we’ve already got Bill Maher for that (and he is entertaining). I hope we can expect more substantial work from Joel Stein in the valuable space he takes up on the Op-Ed page.

CHRISTINE BRYAN

Long Beach

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So Stein thinks that everyone who voted in last week’s special election is an idiot. I presume, then, that he didn’t vote? People vote -- either for or against whatever is on the ballot. When we vote, we at least have a right to complain if what we voted for goes down in defeat and what we voted against is ratified, even marginally, by most of the others who stood in line with us at the polls. Unless Stein is a closet voter, it seems to me he has no right to an opinion about the rest of us; and if he did vote and doesn’t want to admit that he did -- well, what’s new?

BARBARA SNOWBERGER

Hollywood