Readers sound off on news apathy toward Gaza, UNRWA funding and inspecting brick buildings

As media goes numb to distant carnage, so do we

White Rock, British Columbia: Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Saudi Arabia and got static about Gaza. The news outlets that produce the media I consume daily, even the otherwise progressive outlets, are replacing Gazan death and suffering with relatively trivial stories. Perhaps that’s what most of those outlets’ subscribers or regular patrons want.

Apparently, growing Western apathy toward the mass starvation and slaughter of helpless Palestinian civilians will undoubtedly only further fire collective, long-held Middle Eastern anger toward us.

Some countries’ direct provision — mostly by the U.S. — of highly effective weapons used in Israel’s onslaught will likely turn that anger into lasting hatred from people always seeking eye-for-an-eye redress.

Meanwhile, with each news report of the daily Palestinian death toll from unrelenting Israeli bombardment, I feel a slightly greater desensitization and resignation. I’ve noticed this disturbing effect ever since I began regularly consuming news in 1988. And I don’t think I’m alone in feeling this, nor that it is willfully callous.

It has long seemed to me as a news consumer that the value of a life abroad is typically perceived according to the abundance of protracted conditions under which it suffers, especially during wartime, and that this effect can be exacerbated when there’s also racial contrast. Therefore, when that life is lost, even violently, it typically receives lesser coverage. Frank Sterle Jr.

More balance

Kearny, N.J.: To Voicer Steven Edlin: I have wondered the same thing! I have written five letters in support of Israel that went unheeded. I am not Jewish but I am in total support of Israel. Joseph Catrambone

Defer to ‘defense’ force

San Mateo, Calif.: The UN-sponsored relief organization UNRWA has been accused by Israeli sources of harboring several participants of the Hamas attack into Israel on Oct. 7. Before the matter has been fully explored, the U.S. and several other Western donors have cut off the organization from its funding. How prematurely thoughtful of them. The agency deals in sacks of flour, foodstuffs, clean water, feminine hygiene kits and medical supplies. These items are not usually thought of as invaluable weapons of war. Yet the U.S. and its allies have not cut off supplies of 1,000-pound bombs and tank shells to Israel even though there have been reasonable allegations of these items being used to destroy hospitals, bakeries and multiple dwellings with the inhabitants still inside. Perhaps the same energetic scrutiny should be observed in withholding these items, which are far more useful in committing war crimes? Mike Caggiano

Pass the torch

Ottawa, Ontario: Given all the chaos surrounding the upcoming U.S. presidential election, there is a need for a newer and younger president. For conversation purposes, if for some remote reason both former President Donald Trump and President Biden decide to drop out, that would give an opportunity to two of the youngest candidates for both parties — Vivek Ramaswamy (Harvard/Yale graduate) and Pete Buttigieg (Harvard/Oxford graduate) at 38 and 42, respectively. Just imagine the mood in the U.S.A. and all over the world for the youngest president since JFK. The universe will be looking forward to that kind of much-needed change. Anant Nagpur

Platform positives

Kings Park, L.I.: Supposed Republican Voicer Joan Cavalluzzi lists a number of reasons why she won’t vote for Trump. Some are the reasons people will vote for him. Under Trump’s leadership, the COVID vaccine was fast-tracked. Trump didn’t deny COVID, but as a leader, he didn’t panic people. The middle and lower-middle classes pay less taxes under the Trump tax plan. Getting out of the Paris Climate Accord and the Iran nuclear deal were smart decisions, and so was trying to get along with leaders of other countries that have not been our friends. To say he committed bank fraud is ridiculous, and to buy into this notion that Jan. 6 wasn’t a rally gone bad but an attempt to overthrow our government is more ridiculous. Andrew Ross

Working for the bosses

Jersey City: Any labor union retiree who votes for Trump, Nikki Haley or any Republican should have their pension terminated immediately for being a traitor. We forget quickly. The Republican Party was always known as the “Low Wage Party.” Trust me, they still are. Fred Burns

Top officer

East Meadow, L.I.: Donald Trump’s lawyers argue that the office of the presidency is not explicitly stated in the Constitution with regards to banishment from public office due to complicity in insurrection. Isn’t one of the duties of a president to be commander-in-chief of the military? Ralph Nuzzo

States’ wrongs

Howard Beach: The Supreme Court splits hairs, leaving democracy bald: The Constitution determines the outcome, not the states. That some states ignore the Constitution would allow a traitor like Jefferson Davis to run for president of the U.S. Ernest Kienzle

Tuned out

Tuckahoe, N.Y.: On Oct. 27, 1010 WINS went to FM radio. To do this, they had to put ALT 92.3 on HD radio. A lot of people lost their music. If you don’t have a computer or an HD radio, you lost it. New York does not have a country music station either. If they put the newspaper only on the internet, is that fair? Why can’t every AM station go to FM? The signal is better. Howard Stern built K-Rock and it became ALT 92.3. FM radio is for music, not talk. There are only four stations on FM where they talk. Am I wrong to be upset? C. D’onofrio

Made a killing

Manhattan: Amidst the FBI crackdown on NYCHA’s bribe-taking employees, little attention was given to the federal monitor tasked with the overall restructuring of the failed housing agency. In fact, the monitor, Bart Schwartz and his firm, squeezed out $60 million in consulting fees paid by NYCHA over the last five years. I guess nobody told them about the no-bid contracts NYCHA’s rogue employees used to scam us long-suffering taxpayers. As usual, Schwartz & Co. will ride off into the sunset, saddlebags flush with cash, on to the next unsuspecting housing authority. Ron Spurga

Look within

Blauvelt, N.Y.: The recent collapse of the corner of a building in the Bronx raises an alarm. Many New York City three-story and higher buildings built before mid-20th century codes have their floor structures let into pockets of two- and three-course brick rather than “platform framed” with brick added as façade, not support. As the building ages, floor joists shrink, modern appliances and more furniture add weight, and so does increased tenancy per unit, stressing the support system, bowing floor joists and possibly pulling them from the exterior wall pockets, leading to collapse. A sinking foundation would add to the threat and also help tilt the building walls. Telltale signs are horizontal cracks that widen and creaking sounds not normally heard. The city should require annual exterior wall inspection of every building where floor joists are let into brick pockets, and check for tilt. There are fixes, including building second interior walls to buttress the brick ones. Art Gunther

Rangers blackout

Annapolis, Md.: The Rangers are in first place in the Metropolitan Division, third in the Eastern Conference and sixth in the NHL. They are on a three-game winning streak as of Thursday. One wouldn’t know any of this by reading the Daily News, however. Where is the hometown newspaper coverage of the hometown Original Six hockey team? LGR. Damien Scott

From conception

Glendale: To Voicer Saul Rothenberg: Your opinion is not based on any science. A fetus is a human being along its normal developmental track. This is a scientific fact, plain and simple. If allowed to develop, it will continue along its normal stages of development as a human being. A fetus has its own unique, human DNA. If you do not believe that a fetus is a human being, then tell me what species you would classify this living being as? If you can state any scientific research disputing these facts, which institute published the research? If you can state any examples as to where a fetus continued developing but resulted in anything but a human, I would really like to know. Thomas Murawski