Pop-Up Editorial Page

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now to our experimental ending of the show today, our pop-up editorial page. We see the lines filling up at 212-433-WNYC with people who've taken the challenge to write a one-minute editorial for this segment. I picked out some editorials that I'll sample from from some of our local professional editorial pages today, which I'm going to read excerpts of and then we'll take your one-minute editorials.

We'll start on Long Island where Newsday today has an editorial called, "New York polio case shows importance of vaccination." It says, "In the wake of the state's measles outbreak in 2018, many opposed to vaccination and vaccine requirements coalesced using social media to find one another, trumpet sometimes factually inaccurate theories and fears, amplify their dangerous messaging, and galvanize against the attempts to expand vaccination efforts. Then came COVID-19.

These same groups reemerged rejecting even the idea of the COVID-19 vaccine. The frantic effort to address polio sudden return should remind us why vaccination remains so important and why we must push back on anti-science, anti-vaccination rhetoric to protect our children and ourselves." So that from Newsday. Now, The Daily News and The New York Post have kind of competing editorials on the same issue today, the busing of asylum seekers from Texas to New York by Texas Governor Bill Abbott.

Let's see. I'll read from The Post one first that says, "Our migrant crisis isn't Governor Abbott's fault." It says, "Texas is facing a grave humanitarian crisis thanks directly to President Joe Biden's systematic opening of the border complete with millions for those "charities" to beckon migrants in with offers of cash, food, shelter and transportation. Biden has waived more than 2 million migrants into the border states. No wonder Abbott's resorted to publicity stunts like busing a few of them to the nation's media capitol."

In contrast, The Daily News has an editorial called, "Open arms: If Texas wants to send migrants, New York will gladly receive them." The Daily News writes, "Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who has embraced tough guy posturing on the border with a zeal rivaled only by his contempt for facts and indifference to the consequences for both migrants and his own citizens thinks he's going to teach New York a lesson by sending a few buses of asylum seekers here."

Then The Daily News writes, "Imagine that? Immigrants coming to New York. Practically unheard of if you ignore every single era of the city's development. The Texas governor might quake in fear and disgust at desperate, tired people who've traveled hundreds or thousands of miles in search of a better life, but here we can read the inscription at the base of the Statue of Liberty or just look around pretty much any block of the five boroughs and see in these new arrivals some of ourselves." That from The Daily News.

We have this from The Star-Ledger, Booker's Bill can help fix a broken Supreme Court. They write, "This rightward drift of the Supreme Court has occurred under a cloud of illegitimacy manipulated by a Senate Republican leader who flouted the rules and weaponized by a Republican president elected without a popular majority. We welcome a bill proposed by Senators Cory Booker and Sheldon Whitehouse from Rhode Island called, The Supreme Court Tenure, Establishment and Retirement Modernization Act or Term Act, which seeks to restore balance and legitimacy to the High Court by imposing term limits and authorizing the president to nominate one new justice every two years.

The key tenet is eliminating the absurd lifetime appointments for Supreme Court justices and reducing their terms to 18 years. If the Term Act became law, the nine current justices would be required to retire one at a time with new justices appointed under the alternate year schedule." Finally, before we get to your one-minute editorials, The New York Times lead editorial today, and this may surprise you, takes aim at the Democratic Party.

The headline is, "A cynical low for the Democratic Party." It says, "It is deeply troubling to see the Democratic Governors Association support and finance a cynical political strategy to support pro-Trump candidates in Republican primaries on the theory that they would be easier for Democrats to beat in the fall general election. Anyone who proclaims concern about the future of democracy shouldn't come within a whiff of these democracy denying candidates, let alone help them win votes, but Democratic Party groups have been elevating big lie proponents over their moderate Republican opponents all year making a mockery of the American political system."

The Times says, "It is a terrible approach on two counts. First, it's profoundly irresponsible. What if these election deniers actually win? Second, if Democrats believe that democracy is in danger and they need Republican support to save it or at least a reality-based GOP in our two-party system, then they have weakened their standing as defenders of democracy by aligning with those who would thwart it." That from The Times.

That's a sampling of our local newspaper editorial pages today. Now, it's on to our pop-up editorial pages with one-minute editorials written by you. Thanks in advance to those of you who put in the work. I will enforce the one minute limit, so nobody filibusters and we keep it moving well and get to as many people as we can. We start with Lee in Manhattan. You're on WNYC. Hi, Lee. It's you. All right, we're going to come back to Lee and we're going to start with Sean in Long Island City. Hi, Sean. You're on WNYC.

Sean: Hi. Good morning. My name is Sean Granahan and I'm the president of the Floating Hospital, one of New York City's oldest charitable family hospitals founded in 1866. Today we are a safety net for nearly 30,000 patients living in the city's family homeless shelters, domestic violence safe houses, converted hotels and doubled up. For this reason, we call them the hidden homeless.

These are not the folks you typically think of when you think of people experiencing homelessness. They're not panhandlers. These are families who have lost homes because of eviction, unaffordable rents or were forced to leave a situation of domestic violence. The past two years of the pandemic have shown us that these families are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 as well as other different kinds of diseases.

These individuals are living insecurely and under the poverty line. They lack adequate resources to transition from shelters to housing. They also experience barriers to another crucial lifeline, access to primary health care and holistic education that treats their condition as well as the social determinants of health that drive.

Brian Lehrer: Sean, I'm going to leave it there. We are at a minute. Thank you very much for starting us off. Important stuff, no doubt. We'll give Lee in Manhattan a second chance here. Hi, Lee. You're on WNYC for your pop-up editorial.

Lee: Hi. How are you, Brian? Yes, I can start now. Of all the [unintelligible 00:08:06] currently in the world, the one that frightens me the most is something that sounds selfish as it has to do with my personal well-being. That is the continued deterioration in US-China relations, as diplomacy between the two countries has hit a 50-year low. Today, nothing is good about China from where I come.

Over the past decade, especially since the pandemic, China has become a dirty word and a dire subject. It explodes on mainstream news and the social media every minute. It is lambasted by American political parties and the certain industries. It concerns me how many Americans who have never visited China [unintelligible 00:08:55] the country hate China so much because of the fears trumped up by some untruthful minds.

Brian Lehrer: Lee, thank you very much for your one-minute editorial. By the way, listeners, we're going to say we have a pop-up letters to the editor page which is called Twitter, in addition to the pop-up editorials that the call-in segment is. If you want to comment on any of the one-minute editorials that people are calling with just tweet @BrianLehrer and we can start our conversation going there. Let's try Wendy in Springfield, New Jersey. Hi, Wendy. You're on WNYC.

Wendy: Action is the antidote to despair. This quote is from Joan Baez, the folk singer. I agree and I'm doing many of these actions. Climate crisis, reproductive rights revolt, US on the edge of fascism, don't despair, take action. How? Read and research, donate, volunteer, call, email, write. With only a minute, I can only tell you about reading and researching. If you want the entire list our Springfield activists groups compiled for our recent rally, email [unintelligible 00:09:58]. Here are three good sources. Judd Legum's popular information. Legum statistics on corporations who said they would no longer support legislators who voted not to certify the election after the January 6th insurrection but donated anyway, the list is regularly updated. Call customer service, be polite, express your displeasure, make sure you know they are not the audience for your comments. The CEO is the one at fault. Jim Hightower's Lowdown newsletter highlights one in-depth article per month on political or corporate issues you need to know about. The newsletter always includes a do-something list, directing the organizations working on the issue so you can volunteer or donate.

Brian Lehrer: Wendy, I'm going to leave it there. Two calls to action. Thank you very much. Very efficient. Your one-minute editorials here on our popup editorial page segment and Rachel in the Bronx. You're on WNYC. Hi, Rachel.

Rachael: Good morning. Critical race theory needs a name change. We are throwing words around as a whitewash camouflage. I'm offended by the term critical race theory. To edit means to give out, to put forth, to be improved and lighted upon. With slavery and the Holocaust of speculative theory or a contrived idea where they were the facts of history. Was native American genocide a theory? Were deaths of native children buried in mass graves a theory or a fact? Were Japanese internment camps fact or theory?

Were the orphans found buried in Ireland running under Catholic nuns a theory or a fact? Was the public observable beating of Rodney King a fact or a theory? Was the child Emmett Till funeral caused by white and Black people a fact or a theory, worthy of retelling by way of education? Was the open killing of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, Breonna Taylor fact or theory?

Brian Lehrer: I'm going to leave it there because we're out of time, but I get it. People are using the word theory incorrectly in your opinion in talking about teaching American history. Carolyn in Elmwood park, you're on WNYC for your one-minute editorial. Hi, Carolyn.

Carolyn: Hi, Brian. American schools need more Deanna Troi. Deanna Troi is a main character in Star Trek: The Next Generation, half humanoid, and half betazoid. She can literally feel what others are feeling and serves as a starships counselor. Schools in America desperately need to start addressing the social and emotional intelligence of their students. From the time they leave their home in the morning, children and adolescents come in contact with adults who can serve as extra-familial buffers towards fostering resiliency and coping skills in times of emotional stress.

On the fictional starship, anyone that appears in distress is immediately counseled by Deanna. This was first to relieve the emotional pain they were suffering, but it also protected the wellbeing of the entire staff and the safe operation of the Starship. Many of the school shooters in this country seem to have the same profile of having been bullied in school. A child in pain should not be ignored, even if they are not bleeding or limping. The entire culture of the school should keep the social and emotional needs of the students in the forefront. It is perhaps the most important aspect of the curriculum.

Brian Lehrer: Carolyn, I'm going to leave it there for time. Thank you so much for talking about social, emotional learning and its importance. Bob in Round Lake, you're on WNYC. Hi, Bob.

Bob: Hello. Election day, when I go to vote, I feel a sense of accomplishment. When I pick up an approved pen, look over the ballot and bubble in the ovals next to the names of the candidates I prefer. Yay. I remember to turn the ballot over to fill its ovals next to yes or no for any ballot propositions. I like doing this for myself. I like the fact that voters can choose to use ADA-approved computerized voting machines.

However, if everybody was forced to use some fancy computerized voting machine to make it easy for us? How would we know that that machine was working right? Some of these machines even print out barcodes to be counted. Whatever is hidden in those barcodes, I'll mark my own votes on good old paper. Thank you very much. Please give me that freedom.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. One for voting by paper ballot. Again, listeners remember just as editorials and newspapers are open to letters to the editor in response, we invite everyone who's not reading an editorial today to tweet your reactions to the editorials that are coming in. Tweet @BrianLehrer. We'll go next to Kate in Harlem. Hi, Kate. You're on WNYC for your one-minute editorial.

Kate: Oh, thank you. It is so easy to be angry. Angry that bank lanes are not protected by parked cars, furious that there is not a safe and legal place to smoke, so much anger as I walk up out of the central park north subway and see the same pile of abandoned construction debris with the scattering of single-use trash day after day. I take out my phone, making sure that identifying landmarks and addresses are in frame, and document this mess.

Open NYC311 and fill out the appropriate online form, asking this to be cleaned by somebody, anybody, me, me I can clean. I can make better. Suddenly, I'm not alone in anger. I am in a community working together, making our neighborhood.

Brian Lehrer: Nice. Kate, thank you very much. Gregory in Harlem. You're on WNYC. Hi, Gregory.

Gregory: Hi, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Do you have a one-minute editorial for us?

Gregory: Yes, I do. It's about the MTA and the Army program have sure changed New York seniors. [crosstalk] From the mid-'60s, when the bear was 15 cents until I received my first halfway card as a senior in the mid-'20s, I and many of the near million have paid an estimated 30,000 in fare, that's lowball as I only use weekday travel. Multiply that by a million, will you? But we were the last to be considered for the convenience of Omni.

Quiet as it's kept, we do have the technology. It's been three years since a rollout and still no word for half their Omni for seniors. It's a shame. This needs to be addressed. Seniors need this convenience as it is tough enough for us to get around as it is. Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Gregory. Marie on Long Beach Island, you're on WNYC. Hi, Marie. You have a one-minute editorial for us?

Marie: I do. Separation of church and state has been eroded in our country to detrimental effect and this must be corrected. All references to God should and must be removed from every public institution where it currently dominates, schools and government most importantly. Religion is dominating our discourse and our politics now has become the root of most conflicts in this country, not to mention the world. There should be no religious exemptions, no tax breaks granted for religious institutions and schools.

No funding given beyond by any government entity in support of any religious organization. People are free to believe in who or what they want. The politicians should not be allowed to communicate their religious beliefs while in office since they work for all members of their constituencies and the communities they represent. They should not be allowed to reference God, include anything religious when drafting, supporting or closing legislation. The Supreme Court should not be allowed to use any references to God or religion in the rulings as well.

Brian Lehrer: That's going to be the last word on that one as we're at a minute. Marie, thank you for weighing in from Long Beach Island. Joseph in Astoria, you're on WNYC for your one-minute editorial. Hi, Joseph.

Joseph: Hi, Brian. Long time, first time. We should all consider adding edible insects into our diets. This doesn't mean we should give up eating meat and seafood, but that we can add a sustainable nutrient-dense, and delicious protein to diversify our diets. We generally think of insects as past or things that we don't want in our apartment, but edible insects are endorsed by the United Nations because they can produce an equivalent amount of protein by weight with far less resources like water, feed, and land while producing an exponentially lesser amount of greenhouse gas emissions than traditional livestock.

Edible insects are widely around the world by over 2 billion people and we need to change a public perception, culture, and education around entomophagy or eating insects. It's not really the extreme as you may think, and eating insects just once a week can have a tremendous impact on our environment like the concept of meatless Mondays. Furthermore, edible insects can also be used to feed our pets and livestock, and their [unintelligible 00:19:10] an excellent source of organic fertilizer.

Brian Lehrer: All right, Joseph, thank you very much. We actually did a segment on that a few months ago. Last one and I think we're going to end on a transcendental note here with David in Azusa, California. David, you're on WNYC for your one-minute editorial. Hi.

David: Hi, love you, Brian, because you exemplify in a lot of ways my editorial. Humankind is impermanent. If we survive climate change, the threat of nuclear Holocaust, or pandemic, we may evolve into a species we don't even recognize, and then perhaps we might survive until the heat death of the universe, but regardless, it's all impermanent. While we're together, let's do our best to love each other. If we feel anger and fear about something and want to act to improve it, let compassion override that because even if we're right for the moment, that's only impermanent. Let's do our best to act and speak with compassion because we're all in the same boat.

Brian Lehrer: David, thank you so much, that's a wonderful way to end actually. This show is impermanent because it's ending right now to give way to Allison and all of it. That's our little experiment today, our popup editorial page. Thanks for putting in the work to write and to read your one-minute editorials for everyone else, we hope you found that interesting and enlightening. Brian Lehrer on WNYC.

 

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