All of us should have the ability to voice our opinions on the subject of the day
By Andrew Harris, photo by Anna Swanson
Most Americans are unhappy about our national politics, and elections are becoming agonizing. Voter turnout at the polls is expected to be lackluster, more and more Americans would rather vote with memes on social media.
The twenty years of living with constant growth of the “internet,” has left us all is a state of disassociation. For the older voter this is very disturbing, for the new voter this is normal. For the majority in the “middle age” group it has been kind of a shock. We grew up with Ronald Reagan and Dan Rather, and we evolved into this whole new beast.
Each election has become more of a spectacle and more dangerous since “Al Gore invented the Internet.” That’s a joke.
After the last 8 years of elections, here we are again, “the most important election in our lifetime,” is less than eight months away. In the meantime, we are in for a tsunami of nonsense, disinformation, and blatant attempts to divide Americans into teams, teams with factions.
You have Biden Democrats, Maga Republicans, Independents, Never Trump, Never Biden, and massive group of Leave Me Alone, We Don’t Care.
Last week we featured more politics than normal, including some opinions. No one reads the news of new candidates, re-election bids, major federal funding awards, or political endorsements. The opinions get the larger readership, the more intense reactions, and the rare flash of nasty comments.
We are fortunate to have a large social media following that understands we can’t tolerate disrespectful or threatening statements. Unfortunately the same vocal minority can’t seem to remain civil. All of us should have the ability to voice our opinions on the subject of the day without being subjected to nasty language, slurs, or general disrespect.
We promise to redouble our efforts as the political season heats up to monitor our social media content and banish those who are vulger, vile, and full of vitriol. That effort will be to allow open political discourse but will hold civility as sacred. We encourage letters to the editor with a name, address, and thoughtful message.
We encourage readers who agree or disagree to engage on our Facebook pages. Use the tools of the English language to your advantage, but refuse the darker side of human nature and abstain from backbiting and trash talk. We are happy to have plenty of high school readers and they are keen observers of adult behavior. How we interact with those we don’t agree with and how we treat total strangers will inform how they behave in the future.
Let’s all try to “teach civics” and set an example as the politics heats up!!
