From Death to Olympics, There’s Nothing Sacred

Post time . . .

The worst thing about reader responses to my columns is that, because of space limitations, they appear too infrequently. This batch, for example, comes after the execution of murderer Karla Faye Tucker, defined in a New Yorker article as “the Miss Tough Guy from Texas who became the Belle of the Bible Belt.”

Tucker’s 14 years on death row were capped by a blitzkrieg of TV interviews that gained her much public favor despite the grisliness of the pickax slayings she took part in, and the issues her execution raised linger after her death.

One is that she would not have had access to those cameras in California, which prohibits one-on-one encounters between the media and inmates of state prisons. That prompted me to wonder in a Jan. 21 column: “ . . . Why shouldn’t an inmate facing death, female or male, Christian, Muslim or Jew, have a shot at taking his or her case to the people via the medium that reaches the most people?”

Because, Rick J. Penner of Los Angeles replied in a letter, “then they could argue their case not just in court but also again on the tube, and ‘the people’ could not; because their visual presence would be alive and compelling, while that of their victims would not; because their appearance would turn death penalty decisions into vile public spectacles, as the American justice system should not.”

And Richard Rofman of Van Nuys wrote: “The laws of man are frequently harsh. God is the judge of her redemption. If this woman were executed by a fellow inmate, no one would know. It happens every day. If she were on the streets and hit by a car or a stray bullet, no one would care. It happens every day. But let someone commit a heinous crime and say she’s sorry, then people ask for forgiveness. It’s a double standard.”

Speaking of standards regarding flimsier matters, Jennifer Harney of Aliso Viejo faulted mine in a Feb. 7 review of the CBS-televised ceremony opening the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. “Is he a member of the ‘Life’s a bitch and then you die’ club?” she asked about me in a letter. “When most reviews of the opening ceremonies have been positive of the Japanese efforts in Nagano, Mr. Rosenberg comes across as the ugly American. Why doesn’t he just take a load off and enjoy the journey? Things are tough enough these days.”

They certainly are in Austin, Texas, where the recent death of KVUE-TV news executive Carole Kent Kneeland from breast cancer cost that city--as well as journalism--one of its most luminous citizens. My column mentioning her sterling career and lofty ethics drew a letter from her friend in Austin, Steve Singer, who added: “Carole always held true to her standards and had the wonderful ability to get other people to adapt them as well, in new and creative ways, even in the face of what passes for ‘excellence’ today.”

In my book, excellence in TV drama is personified by the embattled ABC series “Nothing Sacred.” My writings on the series, including concerning ABC’s failure to schedule an episode about a tormented priest with AIDS, have brought mixed responses.

From Mike Bennett of Running Springs: “Isn’t it ironic that the great family conglomerate, the Disney Corp., sponsors this filth? ‘Nothing Sacred’ is nothing more than another attack upon the ‘evil’ Catholic Church because she promotes morality and condemns sin as sin and doesn’t apologize for it.

“As for the so-called right-wing Catholic League of Religious and Civil Rights group? Oooh! Evil! I would like to know if the B’nai B’rith and the NAACP should also be described as such? Heck no! Catholics aren’t allowed to defend their faith publicly because anti-Catholicism is as acceptable to America as it has always been.

“The Disney/ABC, Miramax conglomerate and their executive officers will one day have to answer to a different judge other than the Nielsen ratings.”

From the Rev. Dr. J.E. Paul Breton, rector of St. Aelred’s Chapel in San Bernardino: “As a priest in an old Catholic jurisdiction, I understand the real world of spiritual, moral and ethical tension facing clergy every day. I believe that ‘Nothing Sacred’ is a program of the moment presenting that tension in a realistic, compassionate, articulate and theologically correct mode. There is nothing more ‘Catholic’ (or Jewish or Protestant) than to confront, address and surmount the moral and ethical challenges which face us in a manner consonant with reconciliation or mitzvah.

“AIDS is still a disease alive and progressing. That this disease is no respecter of persons is demonstrated by the fact that Roman Catholic, Episcopal and other priests have in fact died of AIDS--sometimes under less than honorable response by their religious superiors and comrades in faith.”

From Carroll Bell of Lancaster: “Please pass this along to the Jesuit who writes ‘Nothing Sacred.’ Watch ‘My So-Called Life.’ Too much soul-searching can be wearing. By the time a priest becomes a pastor, he ought to have overcome teenage angst.”

From Cathy Hammer of San Francisco: “Inspired by viewer campaigns of other slow starters such as ‘Babylon 5’ and ‘Party of Five,’ several groups of ‘Nothing Sacred’ enthusiasts have banded together to present a united, strong front for ABC. I don’t know if my plea for endorsement letters is appropriate, but with time running out, I’m taking a leap of faith. With ‘Nothing Sacred,’ ABC has custody of a perfect example of how powerful and emotional the television medium can be. They should be encouraged to protect it. Anyone agreeing with me can write to ABC’s Audience Information Department, 77 W. 66th St., New York, N.Y. 10023.”