Letter to the Editor: Choose the sunshine
Monday, November 7, 2011
To the Editor:
There are two kinds of negative statements one can make during a campaign.
One is useful and part of the democratic process: TRUTH, factual information about an opponent's record and position on the issues. This is the sunshine style: it enlightens the electorate and promotes informed decision-making.
The other is just the opposite: FALSEHOODS, often anonymous and totally untrue, anything-to-win vicious smears, generalizations about an opponent having little or no connection to the truth or the issues but is simply intended to discredit. This is the mud-throwing style: it dirties all who engage in it and kills civil community dialog, creating enemy camps of them and us.
The sunshine style benefits all of us; the mud-throwing style demeans and harms us all.
For your own sake, choose the bringers of sunshine and say no to the others.
Elaine Phelps
Shoreline
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2 comments:
Elaine, YOU are a ray of sunshine!
Thank you for a thoughtful letter, Elaine. Well said! My ideal is that candidates can run on their own merit without needing to look for opponents' failings to run against. Silly, Polly Anna me, even I know that's not possible, especially in the wider world. So I'll just keep that wish for the slice I care about most: Shoreline.
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