Imagine if Eric Greitens was a high school student threatening his peers with a rifle
Self-respect?
Disgraced former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens released a video showing himself and a team hunting down people to eliminate fellow Republicans who don’t agree with his political views. (June 21, 7A, “Ludicrous Greitens hits new low in murderous ad”) If Greitens were a high school student who made the same threat, the police would have hauled him off in cuffs.
Is there no self-respect left in the Republican Party or is it all the cult of Donald Trump?
- Allen J. Parmet, Kansas City
Similar threats
How is what Eric Greitens did with his recent ad any different from what the man who recently threatened Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh did? (June 12, 6A, “Man threatens Kavanaugh’s life”) They both threatened someone’s life; they were both armed; they both showed signs of mental instability. Why wasn’t Greitens arrested and put in jail?
More people witnessed Greitens than the man arrested for threatening the justice. I just don’t see the difference — except maybe two different justice systems in this country.
- Loretta Rood, Gardner
Yes, a big deal
Donald Trump’s supporters say the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was no big deal. It was a normal protest that got rowdy. Trump and many other Republicans appear to think that Americans are stupid. The insurrection was a mob with guns, knives and other weapons to cause physical harm. Its purpose was to overturn democracy and create an autocracy.
Trump and his Republican allies appear to think that people’s deaths are not of concern, guns are more important than people’s lives, facts do not matter and democracy is not worth defending.
I believe most Americans support democracy, believe in facts and believe in the worth of all people.
- Karen Bradfield, Lenexa
No kneeling
I attended my first Kansas City Current women’s soccer game earlier this month, eager to support our city’s newest professional team. While the entire starting lineup for the visiting NJ/NY Gotham FC team stood at attention for the national anthem, eight of the 11 Current starters knelt.
I won’t be back.
- John Lazzo, Overland Park
No vulgarity
Boston Celtics fans crossed a line when chanting obscenities toward Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors during their recent NBA Finals series. There is no place on or off the court for language of the type Green was subjected to.
For NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to respond passively as he did to fan conduct in TD Garden is concerning. Passing off an extreme vulgarity as enthusiasm is a clear case of dropping the ball. As commissioner, Silver has a responsibility to maintain a checks and balance on fan conduct, which was inexcuseably way out of bounds here.
Like him or not, Green deserved much better. Here is a player who brings 100% effort and determination to a game that he clearly has a passion for. In an interview after a championship performance with a tremendous all-round game, Green spoke about setting a good example for how hard work pays dividends.
Draymond Green is a Warrior in more ways than one, always battling as a leader with supreme effort. As an opponent, he won’t always be loved, but he certainly deserves respect and has my admiration.
- Mike George, Springfield, Missouri
No solution
Usually, The Star’s brief “Short Take” commentaries shed refreshing lights on controversial issues. However, “Hollywood sanitizes gun violence” by Sonny Bunch was stultifying instead. (June 17, 1A)
There is too much violence in movies, period, without showing more realism about “what guns do to human bodies,” as Bunch advises Hollywood storytellers to do. Although I have no philosophical credentials, an assertion that making something worse will make it better sounds illogical to me. To show more gory gun violence on screen would only egg on bloodthirsty terrorists and their dupes all the more. Watching bodies drop is desensitizing enough.
“The film industry’s love affair with guns” will not lessen by intensifying the visual effects. Bunch writes many movie reviews for established media outlets. He’s also the host of a podcast featuring “interviews with folks who have their finger on the pulse of the entertainment industry.” Could it be he is more a part of the problem than an instrument for a solution?
- Annabelle Corrick, Columbia
This story was originally published June 22, 2022 at 5:00 AM.