Why politicize ‘The Ring’?

Re “Ring Festival Is Already Packed,” by Diane Haithman, Nov. 4: I am curious why the Ring Festival has to have a seminar conducted at American Jewish University regarding the use of Wagner by the Nazis, and who pitched it. Are any taxpayer dollars funding this?

Wagner died in 1883, and while he may have held “anti-Semitic” views, his work should be allowed to stand alone, and without all the Holocaust political hoopla, as one of the greatest artistic works in European history.

Should we not also censor Jewish-Israeli artistic works and demand seminars on illegal West Bank settlements, violation of Palestinian human rights, and the “wall”? When do responsible people leave their politics at the door so the rest of us can view and enjoy a great work of art on its own merits?

I have wanted to see Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen” for years. But not now, and not in Los Angeles. It seems that if some people cannot completely destroy the reputation of the artist, they will attach their unresolved psychosis of hate to the festival and the showing of the work of art itself.

David Seaman

Long Beach