EDITOR:
It is very apparent that in writing to The Record-Courier, it is quite acceptable to accuse the president of the United States and whomever else these writers wish to lump in at any given time - the "ilk" and "accomplices" - of every conceivable evil known to mankind.
How the repeated publication of letters that do nothing more than foster hate, breed fear, encourage racism, push intolerance, promote ignorance, and instill anger and distrust, is a "service" to our community is simply beyond my understanding.
How these very same letters would not be "considered libelous or in bad taste" is truly beyond belief. The continual and conspicuous printing of these letters lends them an unwarranted air of credence and perhaps, a nod of acquiescence. The fact that The Record-Courier has a "right leaning" agenda and bias has been made abundantly clear on more than one occasion. Are these letter writers - with their "air time" secure - your clandestine columnists, allowing you to silently approve of, agree with, and print such absolute absurdities without accepting any culpability? It is simply time to "cowboy up" and shoulder the responsibility for what you choose to publish. These paranoid delusions are not healthy or rational. Their seemingly endless daily repetition is neither constructive nor informative. There is absolutely nothing to be gained - for any of us - by featuring and encouraging the far fringe, regardless of side, when the only possibility of success and the only path to real solutions - for all of us - must lie somewhere closer to the middle. We, as a society and a nation, are facing a whole slew of big, bad, real, national and international problems and issues. Sadly for some, socialism/communism/marxism, birth certificates, pre-ordained outcomes, secret handshakes and pre-fab concentration camps won't even make the cut.
Simply stated, fearful people do stupid things. The "hand basket" has not been packed and the sky is not falling. I am very confident that all of us "brainwashed liberals" would be the first in the trenches if any of this socio-pathetic manure that is being thrown about was even remotely close to being real, never mind true. To assume that we would idly stand by and blindly do nothing while our country goes down the toilet - again - is just plain foolish. Remember, it was uncontrolled corporate greed and excess, the never ending lies and distortions, the erosion of personal freedoms, the intrusive growth of governmental tyranny, and the wholesale slaughter of our civil liberties in this country that caused many of us - the majority of the "U.S."- to wake up and try to reclaim control in the first place.
Bob Galbreath
Gardnerville Ranchos
