Stuck in a Time Warp Created by The Times

Every Sunday I open the Opinion section, hoping that the editorial department will have returned to sanity. Week after week I am disappointed.

Opinion has become as toothless as an octogenarian. I am caught in a time warp as vapid as the ‘50s and as vitriolic as the McCarthy era, when questioning authority begs my patriotism and fear is the most powerful four-letter word.

I have hardened myself to Michael Ramirez’s pontificating cartoons, but the ego-drivel of Joel Stein belongs in the entertainment section.

Perhaps the bell tolls for a free exchange of viewpoints as once we knew them in this indifferent, numbers-driven market.

On the other hand, maybe it’s time to listen to your readers.

If newspapers are doomed by an uninformed public and political strong-arming, at least go out fighting.

So what if we’re old and tired? Stick in those false teeth and bite back.

Luan Gaines

Dana Point

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Some readers bemoan the recent proliferation of political cartoons in the Sunday Opinion section, but I applaud the move. In fact I would take letter writer Ann McCleary’s criticism (Letters, March 13) and turn it around: There should indeed be a “Comics III” (or, rather, “Opinion II”) section devoted to political cartoons from around the country and the world.

Editorial cartooning is a historically important form of opinion journalism in danger of extinction, and any move to reinvigorate it is appreciated.

Granted, there is nothing nuanced about political cartoons; they are intended to provoke a visceral response.

A successful cartoon leaves you in no doubt about the opinion of the commentator, and I’ll take a clear statement from a smart cartoonist over a gaseous columnist every time.

Josh Needle

Santa Monica

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Re “Is Joel Stein Straight?,” Opinion, March 13: Wow, you pay Joel Stein for that drivel? No wonder the print medium is going under. Being gay means watching “Desperate Housewives”? I thought it had something to do with sexual orientation. Being attracted to someone of Asian descent is a “fetish”?

What a strange little world Stein lives in. Stein is a triple threat: He stereotypes gays, insults Asians and is not even funny.

John Smart

Los Angeles