The lack of food safety in China; Gregory Rodriguez on just saying “I don’t know”; and a flotilla for the Gaza Strip

When safety is last

Re “Dine at your own risk in China,” Column One, June 27

The horrors of Chinese food safety abuse, in which companies put profit before consumer welfare, are harbingers of what can happen in the U.S. if for-profit corporations are allowed to self-regulate.

Here in the U.S., we constantly have to fight conservatives’ efforts to underfund agencies that protect the public from the kinds of horrendous practices found in China: soy sauce made from hair clippings, melamine-tainted baby formula, steroids in pork and recycled oil from sewers.

How much more do we need to know about what powerful companies will do to increase their profit in total disregard of the public’s health without agencies to police them?

Sandra Goldman

Santa Monica

Don’t know? You can learn

Re “Just say ‘I don’t know,’ ” Opinion, June 27

Gregory Rodriguez is onto something when he praises the virtue of admitting ignorance. With the whimsical example of how Miss America contestants are asked their opinions on endemic social problems, Rodriguez highlights the unfortunate extent to which people feign knowledge on complex matters.

Why stop at beauty pageant contestants? Politicians, voters and even economists are often no better when it comes to designing solutions to social problems. We all face a humbling ignorance when we try to control the world beyond our own little bubble.

The unappreciated beauty of our complex world is that while no single person has knowledge of everything, each of us has special expertise about something. So long as we each have exclusive liberty to act on our personal knowhow, we can cooperate to improve society.

Contrary to popular opinion, ignorance can be power.

Ryan Safner

Arlington, Va.

Rodriguez touches on one of the biggest problems in education today. Teachers not only downgrade a student for an honest “I don’t know” answer, but they also are hesitant to admit it when they themselves don’t know something. The proper answer is: “I don’t know, but I know how to find out. I will do so and let you know.”

Rodriguez writes: “We have as much right to our ignorance and indifference as we do to speak our minds.” Yes, to our ignorance, but never to our indifference to find out.

Joan Kraus

Rancho Palos Verdes

Still wrestling over Jerusalem

Re “Getting on board with peace in Israel,” Opinion, June 26

In her one-sided portrait of Jerusalem, Hagit Borer omits many facts, not least among them that in 1948 the Arab armies laid siege to Jerusalem, cutting off crucial medical and food supplies to its Jewish population.

When the war was over, the ancient Jewish quarter of the Old City, which had maintained a Jewish presence for more than 2,000 years, was in the hands of the Jordanians, who destroyed synagogues, schools and homes and desecrated the cemetery. The Western Wall was used as a back wall for housing projects, which were built up to it.

Since the 1967 reunification of Jerusalem under the stewardship of the Israelis, this city holy to so many faiths is not “her” Jerusalem or “their” Jerusalem. It is everybody’s Jerusalem, and all are free to worship whichever faith they choose. The holy sites of all religions are respected and protected.

Pauline Regev

Santa Monica

It is heartbreaking to read Borer’s recollections of her years in Jerusalem. She witnessed firsthand Israel’s master plan to dispossess Palestinians of their land.

For much of my life I believed the Zionist narrative, which portrayed Israel as a victim, a tiny nation surrounded by enemies whose only goal was to drive all Jews into the sea. Unlike Borer, it took me much longer to learn the truth about Israel’s brutal treatment of Palestinian civilians.

Three years ago I was a passenger on the first freedom boat to land in the Gaza Strip. This time I will be on board the Canadian boat Tahrir, named for the square in Cairo where the Egyptian people shouted their determination to be free.

Like the Egyptians, the Palestinians are weary of being occupied and brutalized. They yearn to be free. They must be free.

Mary Hughes Thompson

Los Angeles

Borer states that there can be a “true peace.” Who is Israel going to make peace with? Hamas? Its charter calls for Israel’s destruction. Fatah? It has turned down several peace proposals.

The issue is not expansion or settlements. There is only one issue here: Until the Arabs recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, there will never be peace in the Middle East.

Zach Samuels

Los Angeles

Stadium deals that work

Re “Football follies,” Opinion, June 27

Jim Newton points out that regardless of how the public feels about the proposed downtown football stadium, it has a lack of confidence in city government.

The stadium and arena deals are rarely discussed in public. Today, even though city staff and the developers have been negotiating behind closed doors, the entire City Council has never discussed a single aspect of the proposal.

Newton wrote that after the Staples Center deal was finalized, even the deal’s critics had to acknowledge that the city had excellent negotiators on its side. It is important to remember that the deal wasn’t amended to eliminate most of the taxpayer subsidies and to include a near-ironclad city bond repayment guaranty until former Councilman Joel Wachs threatened to qualify a ballot initiative that would have required a public vote before city money could be used to help professional sports teams.

Greg Nelson

Mission Viejo

The writer was Wachs’ chief of staff.

Newton tries to sully City Atty. Carmen Trutanich’s good name by inferring that he’s beholden to football stadium builder AEG because of tickets he received to a Lady Gaga concert. Trutanich did not use those tickets.

The Lady Gaga tickets were donated to the city attorney’s annual employee and family picnic and used in a raffle to raise money to support the city attorney’s running team. On its own time, the team competes in the Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup, a 120-mile relay race through the Mojave Desert. We know this because we are the co-captains of the team.

The picnic and team are morale boosts for our office in a time when budget conditions are incredibly difficult. Trutanich has done an excellent job managing our office despite draconian cuts to his

budget.

David Michaelson

Los Angeles

Valerie Flores

San Marino

The writers are assistant city attorneys.

The gamers

Re “State’s law on video games voided,” June 28

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the California law prohibiting the sale of violent video games to minors is not only a victory for free speech and the freedom to pursue enjoyment but also a great step forward in strengthening responsibility.

Parents are far from helpless in their ability to evaluate a video game’s appropriateness: The Entertainment Software Rating Board system, not to mention the packaging art of games, provides reliable guides to the content of games. Too many parents have been willing to hand over responsibility for their children — and other people’s children — to the government.

Whatever happened to parents being responsible for their own children?

William Smith

Marietta, Ga.

Our empire

Re “War fever wanes,” Opinion, June 28

No wiser voice than Andrew J. Bacevich’s is out there in the public arena when discussing the folly of American foreign policy. And I can only hope that our political leaders will begin to move away from our imperial habits.

From our inexcusable stupidity in waging war in Vietnam to our oil grab in the Iraq war, American presidents have too often failed in pursuing a Pax Americana.

Meanwhile, our domestic life is in shambles, both economically and with regard to our healthcare system. Our infrastructure too is in disarray.

Are we to be the 21st century equivalent of the dying Roman Empire?

Bob Teigan

Santa Susana