re: John Tierney, It's a Sin, NY Times Magazine, April 9, 1995
John Tierney's opinions betray unconscionable ignorance of the overwhelming medical evidence on second-hand smoke--clear and unrefuted evidence which convinced the Mayor and the NY City Council to pass the Smokefree Air Act.
"This is a health issue. This is a health issue. This is a health issue," Speaker Peter Vallone said, three times for emphasis. But the paper of record turned a deaf ear.
The Times and the Magazine have given a great deal of letter and column space to those attempting to subvert the meaning and purpose of the bill. These published opinions, in combination with the Times' minimal coverage of the four day-long public hearings on the bill, present to your readers a one-sided--and misleading--viewpoint, effectively distracting your readers from the real issue.
I doubt you get much correspondence from Flat-Earthers anymore, but would you publish their side if they avoided an untenable geologic rationale, and instead framed their argument in terms of the economic and aesthetic benefits of a flat earth?
Gene Borio
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