Letters to the editor for Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017

Civil discourse is down the drain

The rules for submitting a letter to the Nevada Appeal editor are pretty clear including: “Letters considered libelous, obscene or in bad taste” will not be printed. The letter printed in the Saturday, Feb. 11 edition seems to qualify on all three counts.

The content of the letter was shocking and qualifies as what is commonly called “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” I and many others are struggling to understand what has happened to civil discourse in our country but now it becomes a bit more clear. If this letter is an example of the radical leftist resistance, the violent and destructive protests around the country can certainly be directly attributed to this type of venomous name calling and denigration of the President of the United States of America.

Many conservatives, including myself, strongly disagreed with the policies of the Obama administration, but never attacked Mr. Obama in such a vile and personal way using terms such as mentally ill, racist, pathological liar, fascism, delusional narcissist, and on and on. Yes, the First Amendment allows such nasty and vile speech, but the Nevada Appeal should follow its own rules and should have never allowed this type of repulsive letter to be printed.

Further, the Appeal should purge this letter from its archives and ban such incendiary and inflammatory discourse in the future. In other words, follow your own rules lest our peaceful community devolves into a Berkley or Ferguson.

Bill Johnston

Carson City