Letters to the Editor: Right-wing media have turned Huntington Beach into Angrytown

To the editor: I’m thankful every time I read a piece in The Times by columnist Gustavo Arellano. He accurately describes the conservative Huntington Beach protesters as angry.

Consider that since the late 1990s, this population has been influenced by right-wing media, which have deployed a laser-focused message: The left is dangerous, lazy (we’re apparently all on welfare), violent, amoral and unpatriotic. Leftist politicians are all Venezuela-like socialists.

With regard to COVID-19, in right-wing news Gov. Gavin Newsom is not responding to a pandemic; he is slashing the Constitution to ribbons. He is not trying to control infection and mortality rates; he has his mighty boot on the necks of their freedoms.

They are misinformed. They are triggered by outrageous propaganda. And yes, they are angry.

Bethia Sheean-Wallace, Fullerton

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To the editor: As a 30-year resident of and business owner in Huntington Beach, I was appalled by Arellano’s characterization of the citizens of this city who have been protesting (“conspiratorial,” “overwhelming whiteness”, “angry,” “spittle-flecking, over-muscled, badly tattooed, ultra-tanned,” and on and on).

Huntington Beach is a great place to live. We have citizens who are involved, kind and generous. Our city is one of the remaining few middle-class beach towns in California.

Our exercises in free speech have been peaceful and patriotic. The only display of anger here is the writer’s.

Martha Morrow, Huntington Beach

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To the editor: I felt so fortunate to get a job at the Huntington Beach Public Library some 40 years ago, and I often enjoyed my decades working there.

Over time, though, the anger, bitterness and anti-government sentiment of residents began to take a toll. The entitled rants and tirades about 25-cent fines, about sharing computers and about keeping a branch library in a largely Hispanic neighborhood, led me to dread working with the angry locals.

The much-maligned library users who happened to be homeless? They were a pleasure by comparison.

I’ll admit to being a little conflict-averse, but recently I had a nightmare about working in Huntington Beach. I’ve been retired for six years.

Kevin Moran, Costa Mesa

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To the editor: After reading about the goofy and potentially dangerous protests in Huntington Beach against curfews and wearing masks, I concluded that the city is likely to lose its nickname of Surf City and receive a new one — Surge City.

Suzanne Schechter, Oxnard