UNCIVIL DEFENSE
Can we voice opinions to each other anymore without shouting? Here’s what the readers think
This is not the time for civility
DURING THE last 18 months our nation has been dragged to the lowest moral plane it has occupied since, perhaps, the McCarthy era. The attacks on our value systems and ethical standards by those who have little regard for either have been met with reasonable civility. In fact, we have overvalued civility to the point where Trump’s administration came to believe that it could — in our name — separate families, cage children and imprison asylum-seekers fleeing for their very lives. To remain silent in the face of the intolerable is to be complicit; to remain civil is to be ineffective.
To protest, to resist and to unabashedly express outrage will put us back on the path toward reclaiming our values. This is not a time to rely on civility alone. FRANCIS C. HARDING Albuquerque
Negative news gets all the attention
TWO NOTICEABLE and highly visible and well-organized events took place in Albuquerque over June 29-30. At Isotopes Park on both nights, thousands came together to exercise their faith, some for the first time, by praising God, praying for our divided country and dedicating their lives to serving Jesus Christ by spreading his love.
In contrast, thousands also came together, almost at the same time on (that) Saturday, just a few miles away in Civic Plaza Downtown, to protest our nation’s immigration policies. Impassioned speeches and inflamed rhetoric, led by some of our notable politicians and wanabees, permeated the crowd along with children who were carrying signs to which they didn’t have a clue of their meanings.
The former group was proclaiming love and peace, the other group was shouting vitriolic and negative discourses against policies that had already been changed...
Guess what group received the most attention with Page One newspaper coverage? The Civic Plaza group, of course! Nihilistic behavior disguised as free speech usually does. It also sells more newspapers. Should we be surprised, given the demise of the quality of today’s journalism?
And how did the Isotopes Park group fare in this age of unequal coverage? There was not a word in their behalf. The media silence was deafening and telling. So how do Christians respond to the noticeable neglect of coverage and honest reporting? We already have and continue to do so — we prayed. And oh, yes — fireworks followed both evenings at Isotopes Park. The good kind. PASTOR DON KIMBRO Koinonia Church Albuquerque
No equivalents on Democratic side
NO, BOTH SIDES don’t do it! It was the Republican vice president who said to a U.S. senator on the floor of the Senate, “Go f*** yourself!” I’ve often wondered if the Congressional Record actually printed that, or if it resorted to the coy use of asterisks, as the Albuquerque Journal undoubtedly will. Where’s the Democratic equivalent of that?
How about when Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina yelled “You lie!” at President Obama during a State of the Union address, the first — and so far only — time in U.S. history anyone ever did that? Democratic equivalent?
How about when Sarah Palin’s website put crosshairs over Gabrielle Giffords’s name, who was soon after shot in the head? Democratic equivalent? Palin should have been charged as an accessory.
Donald Trump has called the media “enemies of the people,” and at least two right-wing nuts have said in no uncertain terms that liberal journalists should be hunted down and killed, as they were recently in Maryland. Democratic equivalent?
If Democrats are less civil these days, I say it’s about time. After being sneered at for decades as “bleeding-heart liberals,” those liberals are now bleeding real blood. Conservative columnist George Will has called for a “substantial reduction” of Republicans in Congress.
Common decency on the right has become so uncommon that it barely exists anymore. Instead of trying to blame “both sides,” blame the side that’s actually at fault. And take George Will’s advice. ROBERT BORDEN Jemez Springs
Democrats being too polite to GOP
MY FORMER congressman, Steve Pearce, says both sides have “over the top rhetoric.” My former congressman wants to be my governor. President Thug-In-Chief has for years called for the criminal assault of anyone who doesn’t agree with the radical right minority that controls the American government. Civil discourse? ... A traitor controls the Republican Party, and that party controls America. Congresswoman Maxine Waters is way too polite for me. LARRY SULLIVAN Albuquerque
People make the U.S. a better place
RE: HARRY SAUERHOFF: (“American liberal elites persecute Christians with goal of socialism, June 25)
(He contends that) liberals are the bigots of today; American liberal elites persecute Christians with goal of socialism; (and that) goodwill in the populace (is) not evident outside of Christianity.
There are many types of bigots .... They come in all colors and beliefs. I am both a liberal and a Democrat. I am also a Christian. I assure you, I am not a bigot. Nor do I feel persecuted. I also have many friends who are not Christians, who are good and decent people, whose compassion and goodwill for their neighbor far exceeds many Christians I know.
(Sauerhoff) however, after reading (his) letter, appears more concerned about (his) religious agenda than the condition of America. Thankfully we have a Constitution to protect us from extremists. Christianity isn’t under attack ... . Our Constitution is. Christianity and capitalism didn’t make America the envy of the world as (he claims) . It’s the people who come here looking for a better life and (who) succeed through hard work and determination, whatever their ethnicity or religious belief.
The people ... . My hope is that we can come together and embrace each other whatever our religion, lifestyle or color. Compassion for our neighbor is what we need. Only then can we right what sickens America. Love thy neighbor, and it will all work out. (A) hateful letter does not help. JULIAN SCHUETZ Rio Rancho
Our nation has survived worse
JOLINE’S GUTIERREZ KRUEGER’S front page column, on the Fourth of July, besides being well written is well thought out. Some may quarrel with her selection of quotations. Few will dispute the conclusion that this great nation has survived worse divisions during other more trying times. The nation will survive our undisputed lack of civility and certainly will be tempered by the vigorous debate.
In the lifetimes of many of readers, some would argue that the late ‘60s were a worse period of incivility. The divisions of that period affected the outcome of the Vietnam war, the treatment that many servicemen suffered at the hands of their fellow citizens, and invigorated the ruthless Viet Cong and as well as its North Vietnamese sponsor. The late ‘50s and early ‘60s Civil Rights movement? Troops in our Universities, high schools and bloody riots in our streets? Do we have to mention the Civil War?
Yes, we will survive and thrive. Ms. Krueger’s argument for civility in our discourse is well received and a timely reminder that there is more that binds us than there is that divides us. THEODORE M. SAHD Albuquerque