To the editor: I’ve reflexively thought of the antisemitic blowback if Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro were chosen as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate since I am Jewish. But reading about it in The Times made it more painful. (“Chatter about Josh Shapiro as Harris’ running mate veers into antisemitism,” Opinion, July 30)
Jews have been at the forefront of championing Palestinian rights and the rights of all oppressed and needy people, and yet the extreme left despises us. The antisemitism of the extreme right has been seen by all. This antisemitism on both the left and the right tells me the problem is extremism.
The time has come for the great majority of us to call out, marginalize and drive out the extremists. As philosopher Eric Hoffer taught us decades ago, extremists either don’t change or they lurch from one extreme to the other, but almost universally do not moderate.
We are better than this. It’s time to throw the fanatics into the dustbin of history. I don’t need Shapiro as vice president, but I do need blind hatred quashed.
Paul Malykont, Los Osos, Calif.
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To the editor: I am deeply appreciative of columnist LZ Granderson’s fair mindedness when it comes to dealing with antisemitism and not allowing it to influence politics.
But as a Jew, I would rather not have a Jew as running mate with Harris if there’s a chance it would contribute to a loss for Democrats in the race for president. This is a sacrifice of ideals that must be made in order to beat Trump and prevent further civil rights losses.
And who would be blamed for these losses if having a Jew on the ticket contributed to them? Why, the Jews, of course.
Nancy Flesch Brundige, Los Angeles
