Hate the idea, not the people

Kudos to The Olympian for providing a forum for readers to add local context to the news of the day. Personally I’d like to see the Letters to the Editor section enlarged and printed every day. I also think it would be a good idea to occasionally publish your policy regarding Letters to the Editor.

I’d like to know that policy because I am troubled by the recent publication of two letters by Mr. David W. Kunkel of Olympia, both of which I found to be demeaning and unworthy of publication in a newspaper of general circulation. I need to understand why you printed those letters. Perhaps some readers are asking themselves if I’m suggesting censorship by The Olympian. As a matter of fact, I am. I fail to see why The Olympian provides a platform for malicious scorn of an entire class of people (even disguised as opinion).

In his most recent effort (9/22/16), Mr. Kunkel reiterates his “. . . opinion that all Democrats/liberals were idiots.” The modern definition of idiocy is lacking basic intelligence or common sense. That the millions of Americans who vote Democratic are idiots is patently false, yet The Olympian condones this obvious falsehood by publishing Mr. Kunkel’s invidious comparison.

Will The Olympian publish a letter from Mr. Kunkel if he opines that a different demographic is idiots? Say Catholics or Irishmen?

This story was originally published October 12, 2016 at 5:40 PM with the headline "Hate the idea, not the people."