LETTER: Letters need to be checked for facts
Do you screen letters to the editor even slightly for factual content? I’ve read when there’s disagreement with the paper’s columns and editorials, the editor makes comment on errors in factual content where they might exist. I continue to think you have to be careful when it comes to glaring misstatements of fact. It’s a nasty thing used by nasty people. But... some nice people are sponged in. Good balance with the letter concerning the Reagan administration in the Nov. 22 opinion pages. There was balance from the other side concerning his ventures into the Middle East. Reagan was practical and pragmatic... He didn’t always get it right. Among other things at time, Paul Volcker (the Fed chairman) saved our economy with harsh measures involving money supply to control hyper inflation. Measures that were very unpopular but Reagan didn’t object.
These days, if Reagan was a politician, the right wing would have nothing to do with him. But they seem to hold him up as model for promoting conservative values. That’s twisted. He was indeed a good president.
Meanwhile back to letters to the editor. This may go to the misinformation about talking point; “Western Civilization.”
Case in point, a letter by David Conner in the Nov. 22 edition: “Well, Jesus willingly allowed himself to be crucified by Middle Easterners who lived by a very brutal political-religious code.”
That might sound good to some, but it’s totally incorrect. Nope... Them Italians did it. Back then the Romans had conquered the area. If one disagreed with their rule, claiming God’s rule, or any other kind of truck against their empire, one could expect trouble. Jeez, editor. That was pretty bad to let that one go through. At least without comment added. Almost everyone knows it was the Romans who did it. —James How, Kalispell
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The difference between fact and opinion is often totally subjective, and since this is the Opinion page, we tend to let people make up their own minds about what is factually accurate. Case in point: One of the oldest continuing controversies in Western civilization is who is responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. According to the New Testament, the Romans carried it out at the behest of the Jewish Sanhedrin, but rather than dictate theological doctrine, we will let our readers sort it out on their own.)