Protesting ICE and coping with LIRR

Bravery fades in modern times

A reader asked why most people showing up to protest the aggressive behavior of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents seem to be like me, seniors who started our civic experience protesting the Vietnam War [“Arguments over fatal shooting,” Letters, Jan. 16].

First, we had no other way of expressing community outrage — no “like” button to press or a digital platform to post our beliefs. Many were part of a generation of a well-financed and well-educated middle class. We could afford to take chances.

Our children’s children live in a world where they lack financial comfort, their careers can be destroyed by a social media post, and they can be targeted online. It has become more dangerous to display bravery.

The Kent State shooting in 1970 horrified a nation that recognized the danger of escalating violence against citizens.

Today, about a third of the nation is unopposed to a government agent fatally shooting an unarmed woman and then cursing her.

In the 1970s, most people still supported the constitutional right to disagree with the government’s behavior. Today it seems too many are willing to give up freedoms such as free speech to maintain a world where they are more comfortable.

Times are different, and we are worse for it.

— Cynthia Lovecchio, Remsenburg

When LIRR fails, riders still pay

I recently planned to go to the city for a doctor’s appointment. I bought a ticket at the Long Island Rail Road’s Bethpage station. The train was canceled a few minutes later because of an accident down the line.

I had no time to get to Hicksville and get another train to get me to the city on time, so I made another appointment a few days later and used the ticket I had bought. Under the new plan, I would have lost the money I paid for the ticket at Bethpage through no fault of my own [“LIRR fare policy questions,” News, Jan. 20]. Is this fair?

— Irwin Scharf, Plainview