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The part of Korea
that people ignore
We admire South Korea for the music they record and the makeup trends they share all over social media, the culture and scenery in each different part of the country, but we continue to ignore the basic human rights that are taken from the citizens of North Korea.
According to NK News, 41% of North Koreans face malnourishment. According to WU Vienna, 60% live in absolute poverty.
We admire K-Pop for its beautiful idols and heartfelt music, yet to North Koreans, there is the threat of being executed simply for listening to such music. North Korea being restricted was a known fact to the world, but they do not realize just how severe it continues to be.
One wonders how the majority of North Korea’s citizens can continue to have their basic human rights stripped away with little to no knowledge from the outside world.
Destiny Chau
San Jose
Unwoke Republicans like
living through apocalypse
Since the GOP literally has no platform to define their philosophy, they shock their constituency into action by exaggerating and misrepresenting social issues like CRT, transgender rights, pandemic mandates, affirmative action, gun control, etc.
With the right’s penchant for anti-intellectualism, they often espouse far-out conspiracy theories, but their favorite strategy is to go after the left for being “woke.” If being “woke” means recognizing and then adjusting to changes in society, then count me in, but the right believes that being “unwoke” means any “well-meaning” parent, however unqualified, can tell their librarian, doctor, teacher and health care professional how to do their job.
With the likes of Reps. Marjorie Taylor Green, George Santos and Lauren Boebert seated in Congress and Donald Trump still serving as the party’s standard bearer, living in the era of the unwoke is more like surviving “the night of the living dead.”
Bob Parker
San Jose
We should resist push
toward authoritarianism
Re. “The John Steinbeck you don’t know — and the book you’ve never heard of,” Jan. 19:
What do America’s growing penchant for literary control, Nazi Germany and the Taliban have in common? They all three purport to uphold human decency by banning books.
Whether burned, blocked, banned or buried, it’s all eerily reminiscent of a totalitarian wave. The greatest threat to a democracy is a silent citizenship. Now is the time for us to respect each other’s dissenting opinions, not bury them.
As John Steinbeck reminds us: “And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.”
Akeem Mostamandy
San Jose
GOP won’t like
debt problem answers
Re. “Debt ceiling battle isn’t what Congress imagined,” Page A7, Jan. 27:
Congressional Republicans are trying to establish their fiscal credentials. Failure to increase the debt ceiling will not slow the spending but cause the government to default on its financial obligations and may trigger a global recession.
While Donald Trump was the president, the same Republicans threw the debt ceiling out of the window and gave generous tax cuts to the wealthy and rich corporations. When Trump left office, the national debt was at $31.38 trillion, and he added $7.8 trillion in debt.
If we want to negotiate the debt ceiling, items to include will be to sunset the 2017 tax cuts, increase the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to keep up with inflation, universal pre-K to increase our competitiveness, expand the ACA through Medicaid for the11 states, expansion of the child tax credit to reduce poverty and strengthening the IRS to increase the tax receipts.
Mohan Raj
San Jose
We must address
root cause of violence
In response to both sides of the gun violence debate, I would pose it is not a problem with guns but a problem with all forms of violence in our country and state. Our focus should be on violence reduction programs that have had success in many parts of our country.
Until we address the root causes of all forms of violence, we will not solve them. We need to address the lack of good jobs, education, housing, mental health resources and end food deserts in our most disadvantaged communities.
The availability of guns is not the problem. The difference between America and other countries with low homicide and crime has more to do with the safety nets and social programs that exist in those countries. Until we are willing to spend money on root cause mitigation we will fail at reducing violence here.
Lonny Weissman
San Jose
Source: www.mercurynews.com