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Barrage of Negative Letters

For four or five succeeding weeks, this town has seen a barrage of negative letters condemning Eileen Banisch’s bagel joke featuring State Senator Christine Cohen (D-12)’s retail shop in the bullseye. All kinds of things are happening in some people’s minds, such as violence, bigotry, bias, hate, anti-Semitism, etc.

I’ve lived here some 50 years and I have never seen such an outpouring of revengefulness over a Facebook entry in this town. Is this the new progressive politics we’re supposed to live in? The executive director of the Chamber of Commerce can have a sense of humor, with absolutely nothing to do with her daily job. If a cartoon like this appeared in a big city newspaper, I think most people would laugh at its irony. Evidently Madison is not big enough to do this, pun intended.

It would also be wonderful if some of us here would go see a good old movie, such as Mel Brooks’s High Anxiety. It’s very funny and refreshing. Although the bagel is a Jewish dense bread roll, it has been so Americanized over the years it has to be almost anonymous. Perhaps Rabbi Stacy Offner [Sept. 24 letter “Saddened, Angered, and Bewildered”] could offer a sermon on forgiveness as well to her congregation.

Bob Roxbrough

Madison