Editorial - 08 Apr 2010
Baltimore Sun to Be Commended for Diverse Opinion Page
W
e find quite interesting Tim Eastman's letter "The unruly mob comes to the editorial page". Mr. Eastman takes issue with
some recent letters to the editor, and the fact that, in his opinion, some letters indicate a "parade of ignorance".
Evidently, Mr. Eastman spends time putting together well-crafted letters, and he feels that other contributors don't quite measure up
to his standards.
We don't know the author of the letters Mr. Eastman refers to. But in society, most published letters and opinions are deemed to be "ignorant" or unfounded by
some segment of the population. As an example, we would point out that Mr. Eastman's March letter "GOP can't explain away racist remarks
from tea partiers" was widely denounced by Sun readers as being, well, uninformed dribble. A Sunpaper online poll that took
place soon after Mr. Eastman's letter was published indicated that the Baltimore Sun's audience, not thought to be monolithically conservative in their
thinking, soundly rejected the notion that the Republican Party was in any measure responsible for the alleged actions of some rogue Tea Party members, and
by no stretch of the imagination solely responsible. Hence, a majority of polled readers came to the conclusion that the GOP had no basis for having to explain away any actions or remarks,
proven or unproven, and that Mr. Eastman was quite a bit off-base, some would say hopelessly ignorant, for suggesting otherwise. If Mr. Eastman's letter
was well-crafted, it certainly wasn't persuasive.
We would also point out one of the letters Mr. Eastman takes issue with "I don't trust the government with Obama behind the wheel", at least by title appears to be the fundamental pillar of free speech upon which our nation was founded. Just as hippies in the 1960's didn't trust the government under Nixon and Johnson, so too do some folks today not trust the government under Obama. Big deal. This is free speech 101, hardly grounds for civil unrest. And having scanned both letters, nothing was written that wasn't matched or exceeded in vileness
by opinions offered against our previous president, G.W. Bush.
The point of this editorial is simple. One man's "well-crafted" letter is another man's parade of ignorance. The Sun's editorial board, with all of their faults, seems
to understand that. And I applaud the Sun for permitting open debate in line with the first amendment and the best interest of our nation. I've seen ignorant
comments posted by both liberals and conservatives in response to various letters and editorials. But that's better than the alternative, censorship, and frankly they are easily
ignored.
The fact that some letter writers, in Mr. Eastman's judgment, either hold views he disagrees with or are not up to his standard of literary proficiency is hardly reason to turn
such authors away. Do we really want a paper in which only elites and over-educated liberals contribute to the opinion page? Or do we want what we currently have, a cross-section of views representative of what people are thinking?
Editor - bethesite.com
