Jerry Brown: Improving U.S.-Russia Relations

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/17/opinion/letters/russia-religion-humanities-fashion.html

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To the Editor:

“Softening Russia’s Image With Art and Cash” (front page, Oct. 7) was shocking in its distortion of the role that Russian culture and history play in our country. American policy favors sanctions, but not isolating Russians and portraying that country in the most hostile light possible.

Let’s be clear: Both countries can annihilate each other if their mutual enmity keeps escalating. Mistake or miscalculation could easily result in a nuclear blunder. The only prudent path is enhanced understanding through cultural exchange and political dialogue.

That is what we are attempting at Fort Ross in California, a state park that commemorates a 19th-century Russian settlement and sponsors annual dialogues to promote better relations with Russia. Much more of that is needed.

Jerry BrownWilliams, Calif.The writer, the former governor, helped organize and spoke at the annual Fort Ross Dialogue.

To the Editor:

Bravo to Paul Krugman for “God Is Now Trump’s Co-Conspirator” (column, Oct. 15).

For freedom of religion to be inclusive of all Americans, it must apply to those who choose not to worship any deity at all.

Being a good citizen of our country does not have to include being religious; that is why the Constitution explicitly forbids religious tests for any office or public trust under the United States.

It is also why Thomas Jefferson wrote: “The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

Jonathan EngelNew YorkThe writer is president of the Secular Humanist Society of New York.

To the Editor:

Re “Engineers Start Fast, but Poets Can Catch Up,” by David Deming (Economic View, Business Day, Sept. 25):

Across the pond, we at the British Academy read with delight your reporting that humanities and social sciences graduates do just as well in the long run as peers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics).

Our research reached the same conclusion: Arts, humanities and social sciences graduates in Britain are, on average, just as likely to have a job, are just as resilient in economic downturns and just as likely to avoid redundancy as STEM graduates. They happen to be more flexible, too, and able to change job or sector voluntarily without taking a cut in pay — doubtlessly useful in a shifting job market.

As the national academy for the humanities and social sciences, we champion those subjects (a job made harder without an acronym like STEM, which rolls off the tongue so well). There are virtues intrinsic to every discipline, and graduates and society benefit enormously from excellence in the broadest range of disciplines possible, so that people with different skills can work together.

David CannadineLondonThe writer is president of the British Academy and a professor of history at Princeton University.

To the Editor:

I disagree with Vanessa Friedman’s assertion that wearing a black bra under a white blouse, as the title character in the TV show “Madam Secretary” does, is an important feminist statement, a reminder of our right to choose (Here to Help, Oct. 7). As a painter, I think of one’s clothing as similar to a painting’s frame: there to bring attention to the art or wearer, as the case may be.

Do I want others to be distracted by a cry of freedom as obvious as a child’s wearing pajamas to a party? Women must be confident to draw attention to what they think and do rather than to a detail of clothing, one that serves only to distinguish them from their non-bra-wearing male counterparts.

Too many articles, in your newspaper as well as in every other, give “political” commentary on public figures’ attire, mainly women’s. Isn’t it time to concentrate on their character and intelligence instead?

Carol TamborNew York