Letters 10-05-2015

Oct. 1, 2015

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Bravo

Regarding the Sept. 28 Northern Express letter "Just The Facts" by Julie Racine, opinion column "E Pluribus Unum" by Thomas Kachadurian, and Spectator column "Fear Not" by Stephen Tuttle: Bravo. Bravo. Bravo.

Barbara Cunningham, Traverse City

Right On

OMG. Julie Racine’s letter "Just the Facts" in the Sept. 28 issue said everything I was thinking. I totally agree. Amen sister. Also there is good reason for separation of church and state. Kim Davis doesn’t seem to get it.

Colleen VanOcker, Kalkaska

Kachadurian’s Demeaning Sham

Thomas Kachadurian’s opinion piece "E Pluribus Unum" is a very ill-informed perspective of American history. He attempts to portray our past as a homogenized national experience that has transcended any ethnic and regional differences with "the understanding" that our differences shouldn’t really matter.

The historical record has obviously proved otherwise, for example: Revolutionary War, American- Mexican War, Civil War, conflicts with Native Americans, Jim Crow racial violence, labor struggles, suspicion and hostility toward immigrants. Of course America’s past has a lot to be proud of, including our imperfect efforts to wrestle with the demons of our past and to rectify wrongs and transcend them.

But from Kachadurian’s interpretation, none of the examples seem to have had any bearing on us. He apparently believes America’s past has been a reasonable, peaceful and just endeavor.

Now, however, Kachadurian warns that Americans have changed, and not for the better. The source of this malaise is liberal newspapers and TV networks, modeling themselves after sports coverage to create interest. What he then follows with is a litany of stereotypes that he blames on the media, but are his own creation. He demeans women, blacks, non-Christians, gays and lesbians, the poor and needy, Native Americans, and illegal aliens as undeserving recipients of favorable news coverage. He regurgitates prejudice and cheap caricature. And then he astonishingly concludes by decrying divisive stereotyping and calling for judging others as individuals. What a sham!

Allen McCullough, Interlochen

Opinions Disguised As Facts

Freedom of speech is a founding principle upon which our country prides itself, and because of this we all have a right to our opinion. It is when opinions are disguised as facts that we allow for ignorance to spread like wildfire. Educate yourself and make sure your opinion is built upon your objective learnings and not the subjective "facts" thrown at you by others.

Respect is deserved by all who share their opinion honestly and productively, not by those who use ridicule and fear to make their claim.

Ashley Bosley, Interlochen

Reject Your Own Stereotypes

In his "E Pluribus Unum" column of 9/28, Mr. Kachadurian starts calmly enough with a simple definition and history of that famous motto from the Great "from many, one" seal of the U.S., but soon goes off the rhetorical rails. Alas, this heritage-sharing chat with neighbors soon turns into a dirty laundry list polemic, based on an us vs. them worldview.

The set-up (designed to convince or remind readers of a mythic Golden Age) ends with words that are his real purpose statement: "If you’re like me and grew-up thinking we were one people, you might be confused if you read the newspaper or watch TV news." Bingo! We’re being treated (by another media-privileged, anti-MSM conservative) to this week’s carpet-bombing attack against the messengers of "bad," i.e. (non-Fox) media.

Although next, to prove how networks devolved to "the sports model" to frame all societal differences as competitions, Mr. K. tries injecting some levity by offering: "A Handy Guide to Contemporary Media Division," the final two-thirds of this failed opinion are GOP-approved false equivalencies or strange, nonsensical points.

He says, "Race is pretty easy to understand. In the press, whites are generally bad, unless they weren’t white and feel bad about it." And, "Criminals are just victims of their circumstances. Except white criminals, who are evil if they own a gun."

If Mr. Kachadurian truly believes in "rejecting stereotypes," he needs to discard the laundry list and clean-up his own act.

Frank W. Hawthorne, Petoskey

Thanks For Just The Facts

Thank you sooooo much to Julie in Marion for laying out the laundry list of right wing fabrications in her letter last week. She should get it posterized and sell to all truth lovers everywhere.

Mark Contrucci, Boyne City