Dystopian cruelty
Re “Deadline to reunite families nears,” July 8
In her philosophical horror story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas,” the late Ursula K. Le Guin imagined a social order whose members can be happy only if they agree to the suffering of a single child. This child is incarcerated, separated from family and terrified that no one will ever come to save her.
These are the terms of this imaginary world, and they are absolute. To live there and be happy one must live by them.
Some 3,000 migrant children are now enduring the same horror at the whim of President Trump, who goes on happily signing executive orders. We can be thankful that the United States of America is not yet wholly a piece of dystopian fiction.
Trump will be remembered for this one. Stephen Cooper Los Angeles
For many years, the U.S. Postal Service has been using bar codes to track packages. Hospitals use plastic wristbands with bar codes that, when scanned, bring up information about their patients. Airlines use a bar code to help them reunite passengers with their luggage.
Yet, in their haste to kidnap terrified children from their parents, the Trump administration could not devise a system to keep track of which children and parents belong together, and where they have been sent. Now, the administration has said it must use DNA testing in its reunification process.
I am overcome with sadness, anger and shame over the treatment of immigrants who are seeking relief from dangerous situations in their own countries, only to be met with incompetence and cruelty by the U.S. government. Bette J. Golik
Hermosa Beach
In the old legend of King Arthur, Merlin turns young Arthur into a bird so he can fly over the land and see that boundaries don’t exist, but are only a political idea.
What do you think “Six Flags Over Texas” means? Why do you think so many place names in the West are in Spanish?
The idea that we have “lost control of our borders” implies that we once had control of our borders. Many articles in the Los Angeles Times have shown this is not so.
Cutting off immigration isn’t just un-American, it’s unnatural. It’s natural to help strangers. Lake Nofer
Woodland Hills