Vitriolic responses prove point about hysteria
Recent comments regarding my letter to the Citizen of Aug. 10 reveal some very important aspects of the contemporary political scene. One is that full discourse is still alive, which is a positive thing. We live in a democracy in which all should be able to state their point of view.
However, there is also a less encouraging element. The vitriolic statements concerning my letter exactly prove my point that the issue of hysterical reaction I mentioned concerning the Trump presidency is alive and well.
Mr. McGeachy’s statement that I have lost “all past credibility” does not hold up. My previous letters, not related to Trump, remain valid and well received. Cowichan Valley citizens have consistently contacted me both supporting and thanking me for my letters. They enjoy a wide variety of viewpoints.
None of the statements I made concerning American policies are refutable. The statistics I mentioned regarding Obama era debt and economics, as well as domestic policy hold true. The problems with American foreign policy in the Obama era are well documented, including ignoring intelligence and dismissing ISIS as a “JV team” the phony “red line” and inactivity re the Ukraine, North Korea and other issues. These are all well documented, and there are too many to mention here.
Just as true are my statistics regarding the current economic upturn in America and lower unemployment. Is this all due to president Obama? If his policies had been so dramatically successful, giving him the benefit of the doubt, economic improvement would have happened in the fifth or sixth year of his presidency, but they did not.
As for CNN and all other main stream media, their market share decline is also obvious as fewer people trust, watch or listen to them. This is a documented fact. Seventy per cent of Americans now do not trust the main stream media. MSNBC tele editorials sometimes have a viewing audience of 750,000 out of a population of over 300 million. Could it be that people are tired of hearing the same old line? CNN, and networks like it, are decidedly biased, and it is now obvious.
I did not mention or defend Fox News. That was Mr. McGeachy’s personal statement. The idea that I have not used factual information is also false. Just saying that I did is not proof. Neither is it an argument to say that something was a “joke” or “butt kissing.” Accusing me of presenting an incomplete picture is just that, an accusation. It doesn’t jive with the facts I have presented.
What we now need is a revival of fact and argument in the public sphere. What I called for is a more balanced approach to the issue of American politics, sans the name calling, overblown rhetoric and hysteria. None of these benefit any of us. Let’s hope we can get beyond them. Reasoned and intelligent argument even refutation and passion are fine. Name calling, which I have now been subject to, are not, and reveal the impoverished, partisan state of our current scene . That is the real tragedy.
Perry Foster
Duncan