Does anyone think that a major newspaper like the Los Angeles Times would ever allow a hateful and patently false anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim personal attack to be published in its letters to the editor? Of course not. But check out this whopper of anti-Catholic vitriol that is in the pages of the Times today (Mon. 2/2/09):
The Jesuits have a saying, "Give me the boy until he is 7, and I will give you the man." You can now add, "Give Adolf Hitler the boy until he is 7, and he will give you the pope."
RALPH WETTERHAHN
Long Beach
Yes, that's the entire letter. In the eyes of Ralph Wetterhahn of Long Beach, California, Pope Benedict is a Nazi, personally groomed by Hitler himself, apparently. And the Times has no problem publishing this?!? Good ... grief. Even more anti-Catholicism by the Times? Of course.
Letters from Wetterhahn and other readers were in response to the news story regarding actions by Pope Benedict toward four excommunicated bishops of the Society of St. Pius X. (There's a lot to it, but for more on this, see "Vatican: Comments by Holocaust denier unacceptable" (AP).) (By the way, I also came across this eye-opening opinion piece from the Jerusalem Post.)
Even if one disagrees with what Pope Benedict did, Catholics and non-Catholics alike should be outraged that the Times would allow such a specious and vicious piece of slander to be printed in its paper.
Maybe you might want to let the Times how you feel with a (polite) letter of your own: letters@latimes.com; or contact the Readers' Representative Jamie Gold at readers.rep@latimes.com.
The catalog of anti-Catholicism at the Times continues to grow.
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NOTE: This is a shortened, edited version of my opinion. For the full version, go to TheMediaReport.com.
