Calendar Letters: Bard knew what he was talking about

Regarding “The Politics of Theater: The Relevance of Shakespeare” [June 25]: Bravo to Charles McNulty for his terrific piece on the relevance of the Bard. To add to McNulty’s perceptive comments, I would like to suggest — obviously in jest — that we should demand all Trump administration members (and maybe all politicians as well) be required to take an intensive course on the meaning and wisdom of the greatest dramatist and poet ever. Maybe the conservatives will look beyond the costumes and production design to see what William Shakespeare is trying to tell them.

Lewis Rosenthal

Los Angeles

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In Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” after Caesar is killed and Marc Antony turns the crowd against the assassins, one citizen says to another, “Caesar has had great wrong.” The other responds, “I fear there will a worse come in his place.” Shakespeare relevant

Gerald Schiller

Newbury Park

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Mark Swed believes that Caesar’s last words in the updated “Julius Caesar” should be “Et tu, Bernie?” I believe “Et tu, Ivanka?” makes a lot more sense.

Bob Lentz

Sylmar

America needs Megyn Kelly

Regarding “Calendar Feedback: Megyn Kelly Interview a Low Point” [June 25]: I am furious about the castigation of Kelly and NBC for the Alex Jones interview. No matter how heinous provocateurs like Jones may be, there’s value in listening to them to understand what fuels their attitudes and, armed with this knowledge, combat them more effectively.

When I saw Milo Yionnopoulos on TV for the first time, I was delighted to find that he was just a silly fame seeker with no credibility.

Berkeley students could have benefited from seeing that too. “Protecting” people from controversial ideas is a wasted opportunity.

Vicki Jo Radovsky

West Hollywood

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I do not understand this bellicose piling on Kelly. Jones’ views do not represent a radical fringe minority; they represent the views of millions of Americans, many of whom voted for Donald Trump. This fact is what should have people up in arms and called to action. This is the real scary thing. Kelly should be applauded for having the courage to highlight such irrational rhetoric. We ignore him at our peril.

Susan Radder

Chino

That’s another brick in the wall

So the warm and fuzzy Roger Waters no longer spits at the audience? How very British of him. In the long list of pretentious rockers, he is in a class by himself.

Jim Lynch

Cardiff, Calif.

Far more than just shushing

Regarding “Librarians Have It Covered” [June 25]”: Carolyn Kellogg forgot to mention that professional librarians have master’s degrees in library/information science. They have a code of ethics and are trained to be unbiased advocates.

Times readers may want to ask whether their public or school library is currently employing full-time professional librarians. If not, consider campaigning for their return. California readers and learners deserve higher-quality libraries, staffed by full-time professional librarians who will in turn diligently advocate for what their patrons need.

Regina Powers

Orange

Do we deserve second chance?

Regarding “Hollywood Dystopia or a Lens Into Future?” [June 16]: Let’s suppose the scenarios are prescient and, amazingly, there is technology to evacuate Earth and colonize exoplanets. Given our historically egregious stewardship of our first home, how does the trashing confer a license to export human stupidity, violence and malignancy elsewhere in the galaxy?

Gary W. Dolgin

Santa Monica

Wrong wave, History channel

Regarding “In the Murk of the Drug War” [June 17]: The History series “America’s War on Drugs” smeared Huntington Beach, where I grew up. In the third episode, the program stated that Huntington Beach was the scene of 13 gang killings. This is not accurate. It was Huntington Park, not Huntington Beach. So now the world thinks one of the safest cities in the world is full of gang activity. That’s a disgrace to Surf City, USA, and the network owes it a retraction.

Pamela Little

Bay Springs, Miss.

Diverse, yes; quality art, no

Regarding “Make It Diverse, Make Money” [June 21]: But is it quality filmmaking? Many of these movies are geared for a rather immature-thinking audience.

The most successful pictures, e.g., “Harry Potter,” the “Twilight” films, cartoons, childish comedies or movies such as “Star Wars” and “Wonder Woman” might be entertaining, but they’re certainly not mentally challenging.

Eduardo Savoa

New York City

Let’s celebrate fest, not trash it

Regarding the review of the Arroyo Seco Weekend music festival [“Off to Bland Start,” June 26], pop music critic Mikael Wood equated “good taste” to “bland.” I must express how troublesome this is. The fact that a major music figure like Ben Jaffe addressed a crowd of people and encouraged content creators to do away with the fluff and insert some substance into their work and that an L.A. Times pop music critic’s reaction was to call it “unsolicited advice from an outsider” is appalling.

Should we not celebrate such harks in such confusing times? Am I to understand that The Times, the face of Los Angeles, is condoning humans to tune out, pretend nothing is happening and ... (gulp) ... practice escapism

Adam Henry

Oak Park

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