Readers React: They’ve had enough of Donald Sterling

Regular readers of The Times’ letters page probably won’t be surprised to learn that this is the third straight week the Donald Sterling scandal has drawn more submissions than any other topic. And they’re starting to get fed up by it.

After the story started unfolding late last month, most of the readers who sent us letters had harsh words for Sterling. As the drama continued to play out, however, some grew increasingly exasperated reading about the fallout from Sterling’s racially charged private mumblings and botched public apology. About a third of the letters this week on the scandal have criticized The Times.

Here are some of those letters.

El Cajon resident Barbara Carlton says there are worse disasters than Sterling:

Not even a projected 4-foot rise in global sea levels due to catastrophically melting glaciers pushed Donald Sterling off Wednesday’s front page.

For heaven’s sake, people! Sterling is a smarmy, self-promoting bigot. His downfall is puny news, self-inflicted and long overdue. Major issues confront us.

Can we please put Sterling in the back of the paper? How about more coverage of that rise in sea levels?

Richard Garstang of Temple City puts Sterling’s offense in perspective:

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: Sterling on the front page. Did he kill someone or break the law? No.

What this old man did was cross a politically correct line in a private conversation. Wow. Now his whole life is being shredded just to justify his consignment to the lowest depths of public opinion.

Don’t like what he said? Get over it. He has his opinions, just as you have yours, and if I were to tape our private conversations, I bet that, given the right impetus, your privately expressed opinion could bring serious consequences.

Debbie Clark of Burbank laments the misuse of journalistic talent:

On the one hand, we should all be pleased that there’s nothing major going on in the world. Ukraine, Nigeria, Iran, immigration issues, corrupt politicians and the proposed California budget can all be in the inside of the paper. We can all dedicate our time, energy and anger toward someone who said some nasty things believing he was in a private place where no one would ever think to tape the conversation.

There were nearly a dozen credited journalists dealing with the Sterling brouhaha in Wednesday’s paper alone. I can’t think of a better expenditure of talent.

On the other hand, this topic has been done to death. We all are now fully indoctrinated to know that we must not ever speak in mean ways about anyone: A recording device may be on. The next thing is we won’t be able to think anything bad about anyone.

Welcome to “1984.”

Jeremiah Flanigan of Long Beach wants to take the story off repeat:

Your repetition of the Sterling story causes me to fear that I’m experiencing a “Groundhog Day.”