The quintessential New York Times reader and citizen editorialist, Martha S. Cherkis has been studying ethics and sociology in America for decades. Her contributions to news publications have been well received since, as a pre-teen, she won a contest given by The Detroit Free Press for the best letter about being a Detroit Tigers fan. Of course, it was published in the paper...and she won tickets to a game. Since then, her comments about media, politics and society have graced the pages of The New York Times and Commentary Magazine in response to articles on popular issues by noted writers. Further, her research has been acknowledged in books addressing issues ranging from the Holocaust to racial unrest. Now, in the age of the Internet, Martha's insights are available online. To this, Martha, who has been ever cautious in her approach to new media, says: "Thank you, Google."

Martha Cherkis is a researcher who has worked for organizations such as the American Jewish Committee and the League of Women Voters. She attended Wayne State University, New York University and The New School for Social Research.



In the above photograph, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt is speaking at the Ethical Culture Center in New York City in 1945. Martha is seated to the right of Eleanor in the first row. She is wearing a white hairwrap.

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Always an advocate of face to face discussions, Martha now embraces the world of cyberspace. She welcomes comments to this blog, which is having its inaugural group viewing before the Telecommunications Governance seminar held by Professor Olivier Sylvain on April 20, 2009 at Fordham Law School...just blocks away from the Ethical Culture Center!

REAGAN AT BITBURG

Admittedly, it takes a strong will not to overidentify with make-believe characters, especially when talented writers, directors, and actors are able to arouse emotions more effectively than straight news reports of genocide, totalitarianism, and man's inhumanity to man.
Martha S. Cherkis Brooklyn, New York

https://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/bitburg-15001?page=4

[discussing President Reagan's visit to Bitburg Cemetery: for further brief background of Reagan's controversial visit to Bitburg, view http://deadpresidentsdaily.blogspot.com/2007/05/may-5-1985-reagan-at-bitburg.html]

RIGHT-TO-LIFE LOBBY

I must also comment on how skillfully Miss Tedeschi dismisses the issue of individual rights and responsibility as she draws attention to critics of the body politic, the Surgeon General's Office, and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. More pointedly, Miss Tedeschi sounds like an apologist for the polemicists of the right-to-life party who have been unyielding in their lobbying efforts against parents suffering human anguish, physical pain, and economic privation due to overwhelming birth accidents.
Martha S. CherkisNew York City

https://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/infanticide-14780?page=4

IRAN-CONTRA HEARINGS

In today's battles for the supremacy of humanity over depravity, television indeed makes an impact. When dramas reinforce lessons of the marketplace - ends justify means, material gains reward immoral behavior, quantity dollars are superior to quality goals - it is later than we think. The televised Iran-Contra hearings, which exposed ethical conflicts among government decision makers, presented real questions to audiences as to the real heroes and the real villains.
MARTHA S. CHERKIS Brooklyn, N.Y.

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/27/arts/l-villians-and-heroes-016687.html

[For more on Iran-Contra Hearings, see http://www.history.com/search.do?searchText=IRAN-CONTRA%20AFFAIR,]

VIEWERS AS VICTIMS

To the Editor:
If Red Smith could be inspired in 1951 to write that "the art of fiction is dead; reality has strangled invention," Larry Gelbart has cause to groan in 1995 [ "Peering Through the Tube Darkly," April 16 ] . Fortunately, relief is in sight. A minority of viewers, not classifiable as voyeurs, have applied for victim status. We are not entertained by ugliness, gossip or scandal. Without hesitation, we channel surf or switch off, read a book or meditate.
MARTHA S. CHERKIS Brooklyn

http://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/14/arts/l-fact-and-fiction-on-tv-viewers-as-victims-664695.html?sec=&spon=
[Commenting on Article: "Peering Through the Tube Darkly.." Article by Larry Gelbart re: Rodney King, New York Times, April 16, 1995.]

Citation Printer Friendly
Title:
American Jews and the Holocaust.
Authors:
Cherkis, Martha S.
Source:
Commentary; Sep1983, Vol. 76 Issue 3, p21-21, 1/5p
Document Type:
Letter
Subject Terms:
LETTERS to the editorJEWS, American
Abstract:
Presents a letter to the editor in response to the article "Indicting American Jews," by Lucy S. Dawidowicz in the...
Accession Number:
15869742
http://connection.ebscohost.com/content/article/1040822979.html