Dear Mr. Patinkin,
I am writing to you today after watching your 60 Minutes interview last night. I have never written a fan letter before, but your story has moved me to write you. To begin, let me tell you a little about myself. I have been working in educational production in Vermont, and after 17 years at a university media production department, I started work in a high school technical center teaching media production. My students produce all forms of media, from public service announcements to dramatic fiction. I am a strong believer in the freedom of speech, but my students know I draw a line at violent content. I find this to be increasingly difficult given the amount of violence in the media today.
I have always been a fan of your work, and have watched you in movies and television, as well as your stage and musical performances. I appreciated the interview last night, but I have to be honest that I was disappointed that you didn’t mention why you left Criminal Minds. I realize that this was an interview on CBS and perhaps it was not the right forum for such a discussion, and we viewers never know what is left on “the cutting room floor”. I find the level of violence on such shows as Criminal Minds and Stalker to be way over the threshold of “appropriate” violence. I personally agree with you when you said that such violence was “very destructive to my soul and my personality”. I have read the studies on media violence and I know there is no conclusive evidence that violent programming will cause a person to commit violent acts. I do believe that my students are much more desensitized to violence, and it takes more and more graphic depictions to have an impact on them. This seems to me to be a tragic “slippery slope”. I admire you for taking such drastic action as jeopardizing your career by walking away from a network show. Thank you for being one of the few celebrity voices that is willing to take a public stand and say that such media violence is destructive.
In closing, let me make a quick plug for my state of Vermont. It would be great if you ever found an opportunity to perform in our wonderful state.
Sincerely,
Gary Lambert
