Forest Hills: Re “Soul-searching in opera world after tumultuous #MeToo year” (Dec. 29): There are no doubts that many things need to be corrected about male-female relations in the world of opera and theater, and indeed the world in general, but the possibility of dramatic artists interacting onstage on a deep, personal and emotional level, and making more than a perfunctory “professional” surface connection in the pursuit of their art, is decidedly not one of them. The idea of an “intimacy director” deliberately pulling performers out of the moment they have worked so hard to get into should give any serious actor (or theater-lover) a worse case of the willies than any of the experiences recounted by Plácido Domingo’s largely faceless accusers.
One pervasive problem in the #MeToo movement is the insistence on equating mildly uncomfortable moments of human interaction (which are inevitable unless one really wants a world devoid of personality or emotion) with genuine abuse, whether physical or psychological. The failure to distinguish between an unwanted pass and harassment, between momentary embarrassment and lasting harm, does victims of genuine abuse an extreme disservice. Louise T. Guinther
Yonkers: In regards to, and with all due respect to, the newly assigned Chief of Crime Control Strategies Lori Pollock and her assertion that the homicide count is inaccurate because an assault years ago which causes a death today is misleading when counted as a homicide: Total nonsense! (“NYC closes the book on 2019 with a jump in shootings and homicides,” Dec. 31) A felony assault is upgraded to murder when the victim succumbs to the injury regardless of when death occurs. I had a crime victim assaulted in the 1970s who died in the 90s. We carried that as a homicide in the year he died. Once again — and by no means is it the fault of the finest police department in the country — the NYPD is playing games so that this useless mayor in City Hall looks like a Godsend. Ralph A. Manente
Whitestone: Here we go again. Our embassy in Iraq, a sovereign piece of United States of America’s property, is attacked, thereby putting America’s and Iraq’s own people at risk of injury or possibly even death. Yet our American military are told to only respond with tear gas in Baghdad. Have we already forgotten about the tragedy in Benghazi under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama? We should never forget and let history repeat itself, once again. Kim F. Cody
Center Valley, Pa.: Navy SEAL Ed Gallagher said that the accusations against him were revenge for unfavorable evaluations. Did his accusers take a lie detector test? The only person who got into trouble for taking a picture with the dead terrorist was Gallagher, yet others were in the photo. What is worse: A photo with a dead terrorist or all the admirals and generals who lied to the American public for years about how things were going in Afghanistan? Where is the editorial about that? Sherry Ortwein
Margate, Fla.: Brooklyn Councilman Brad Lander is a total hypocrite when comes to opposing anti-Semitism. Lander has publicly embraced one of America’s most virulent anti-Semites, Linda Sarsour. He embraces her and she celebrates Louis “Judaism is a gutter religion” Farrakhan. He embraces her and she celebrates the convicted murderer of Jewish college students Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner. Lander’s embracing her is the equivalent of giving the imprimatur of his office to Joseph Goebbels. Richard Sherman
Utica, N.Y.: Violent anti-Semitic episodes are occurring at an alarming rate, and hate is becoming an acceptable form of expression. Yet Voicer Barbara Alpern is focused only on how some Jews are better than others. Does she not realize that the people who hate us do not make that same distinction? Barbara, your disdain for those of us whom you so scornfully deride as “liberal and left-wing Jews" only helps those who would round up all of us and put us in concentration camps together. I am sure that I am not as observant as the “conservative-minded and religious Jews” who look down on me, but I went to Hebrew school long enough to learn that “embracing Jewish values” means celebrating what unites us, not our differences. Can’t we all do better this decade? Jeffrey S. Ganeles
Fort Myers, Fla.: Re D.J. Jaffe’s “A clear-eyed look at Monsey attack” (op-ed, Dec. 31): Were we to look with a clear eye at mental health issues, we would see that for generations we have eschewed researching the causes of the most serious mental illnesses. Had we acted similarly with polio, cancer or AIDS, we would have made no progress in those areas. Harold A. Maio
Manchester, N.J.: Some years ago (no one knows the exact time frame) aliens from outer space came here and went into hiding until the time that they could out themselves under the guise of Trumpsters and wreak havoc on our Constitution and our democracy. Alan Berman
Jackson Heights: As far as the environment was concerned, President Trump did far worse than trolling Greta Thunberg (“What was what in the decade that was,” Dec. 31). He withdrew the United States from the Paris Accords on addressing global climate change and has weakened or reversed many of the environmental regulations put in place by President Obama. These actions have hastened global warming and imperiled the future of our planet. Judith Natkins
Brooklyn: To Voicer Phil Antico: You have it backward. Liberal thinking is not destroying America, your uneducated opinion of the word is. Stop drinking the Kool-Aid. Greg Ahl
Brooklyn: Here is my response to Voicer Tom Masselli: We take pride in where we are from. You’re from upstate New York so there is a big difference. We live by the oath: “If you weren’t born here and raised here, then you are not from here.” We do more in a day in the city than you do in a week and are proud of it. We are the city that never sleeps. All of the places you relocated to don’t even compare to us. We feel the same way about upstate residents that you might feel about us. We can take you or leave you. But we’re never going to complain about it. Real New Yorkers adapt to their surroundings and keep it moving. So the next time someone asks you where you are from, tell them you’re from upstate New York and whatever back road town you’re from. Keep New York City out of your mouth. Gregory Coston