Letters

from Dec. 8, 2016

Brendan Trainor

Stay safe

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

My condolences to the friends and family of the dozens of people who died in the terrifying fire at the “Ghost Ship” warehouse in Oakland, California, last week. It’s just so sad. And although there’s a temptation to want to assign culpability when something like this happens— to blame the neglect of code enforcement, or the blind-eyeturning management, or whoever else—I don’t want to play that finger-pointing game. From my vantage 200 miles away, I don’t have enough information or even know the right people to ask. I hope investigations are now underway that will unearth those answers, but for now, I just want to express my sympathy.

I didn’t know anyone who was there that night, but I have many friends who had friends who were there, and I’m so sorry for their losses. And like that awful massacre in Orlando, Florida, earlier this year, it’s so tragic when such an awful incident occurs during a music event—any music, any event—when people are gathered to enjoy themselves, to listen or dance or sing or play. For those of us who believe strongly in the value of music for community, it can be difficult to fathom the horror of disturbing that sanctity.

I’d never been to the Ghost Ship, but I’ve been to hundreds of places like it—underground music or art venues of questionable legality. Places like that are necessary for many people—especially those who, for whatever reason, feel alienated from other parts of society. I wish I could offer up a reasonable solution for balancing the needs of underground art and music communities and the need for above-board safety regulation, but there’s just not an easy solution. Or maybe there is. Reno’s Holland Project seems to do it right—offering a variety of underground entertainment in a space that’s safe literally as well as figuratively. We’re lucky to have them.

—Brad Bynum bradb@newsreview.com

Phil’s pleased

Thank God Leonard Cohen died. Something real for liberals to cry about.

Phil Morel Reno

Means justifies the end

Re “Government overthrow” (Notes from the Neon Babylon, Nov. 17):

Mr. Van Dyke states, that “we won this thing.” Uh, no, you did not. So typical of a liberal. If they don’t win playing by the rules, just change them after the fact. The end justifies the means.

I don’t give a damn how the rest of the world does it, America is the greatest country in the history of mankind, because we do things differently. Our founding fathers created a constitutional republic, not a democracy—a very fair method of representation. You should have learned this in high school, but were probably too stoned that week.

I would explain it to you, but you obviously do not have an open mind. I stated six years ago that when liberals are “curled up in the corner, in the fetal position, frothing at the mouth, unable to speak” that is when we would know that America is back on the track to greatness. Mr. Van Dyke, you have a foul mouth, act like a spoiled child when you don’t get your way and are ignorant of our history! Do us all a favor, go back to your corner and froth yourself away!

Howard Deere Carson City

Trump ‘accepts’ this outcome

The great irony is that the candidate who whined so long and so loudly about how the system was rigged has finally STFU about it now that he benefits from the constitutionally mandated form of vote-rigging in the Electoral College. Remember, he was complaining about Republican rules that could allow party leaders to overrule the Republican primary popular vote and nominate a candidate who didn’t win the most votes. At one point he described the Republican primary as a “rigged, disgusting, dirty system” because it could hand the nomination to someone who didn’t win the most votes.

He really seemed to care that the candidate with the most votes should win, despite what the rules might allow. It was hard to miss—he was pretty vocal about it. As I see it, religion and politics have two main things in common. They are both dangerous topics for any large family gathering, and they both seem to elicit too much hypocrisy for anyone with a weak stomach.

Gary Marks Reno

The wreckage

The media played a big role in Mr. Trump’s win. Newspapers and television couldn’t get enough of his lambasts, and we lapped up every word, repeating them on Facebook.

“Did you hear what Trump said?” was the question of the day. As one CBS representative said, “It wasn’t good for the country, but it was good for CBS.”

And Trump got free publicity across the country every single day of the campaign. When Facebook and Twitter entered the political fray, outlandish proclamations appeared as news. We read crazy stuff—that Hillary really was crooked, that Bill and Hillary had a secret orphanage where all kind of devilment occurred, that President Obama had a criminal record.

Many no longer believed anything or anyone, including FactCheck.org and news accurately reported on television and in newspapers. And the most important work—investigative reporting, which was already on the decline due to budget cuts—was no longer seen by doubters as factual, especially if it revealed their candidate’s misadventures. As a University of Nevada, Reno journalism minor who learned ethics from the best of them—Prof. Jake Highton—I would sure like to know what his take is on all of this. Mary Lee Fulkerson Reno

ERIK HOLLAND

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