‘Stage three’
In response to the article “A new generation of leadership at the Weekly,” (Re: Stew’s Views, Jan. 30, 2019) it is sad to hear who is leaving the paper and who is not. Paul Danish does not “continue the tradition of illuminating truth.” He is instead a cog in a misinformation/propaganda movement that is choking to death democracy’s need for an informed citizenry. If he’s given column space with the intention of providing “both sides,” then that is playing into the strategies of the misinformation movement which include amplifying and repeating lies, faulty logic, and accusing your accusers of what you are guilty of. Truly providing both sides would be providing a side-by-side counter argument. Of course the article disputing Paul’s would have to be several pages in length. After a previous column, several people wrote letters to the editor refuting items in his column and they only addressed a fraction of his erroneous arguments.
The political party in power continues to succeed in “working the refs” of the Fourth Estate by fouling every time they are on the field and not being held accountable for every drop of the firehose of falsehoods they unleash. The Weekly is not “championing the cause of the underdog” when it gives a columnist the license to repeat the talking points of those in power and to aid in maintaining power by intimidating future “snitches” by continuing to name and scrutinize the whistleblower rather than the crimes they exposed, which is just the latest service Paul provided to his Mob Boss rather than serving the readers and traditions of the Weekly.
Barbara Bradley/Boulder
Look to the past
While writers attempt to avoid clichés it is important to acknowledge that clichés speak often to the truth. One cliché comes to mind during this impeachment process and the Senate’s partisan refusal to hear valid witnesses and allow the release of documents pertaining to the case. That cliché is, “History repeats itself.” The debacle that we have observed these past two weeks in what was once described as the worlds greatest deliberative body, the U.S. Senate, proves that the Senate majority is, no longer, neither great nor deliberative, but rather, a rubber stamp on the abuse of power by Mr. Trump under the direction of Mitch McConnell’s iron fist.
It may not be an easy task but everyone who cares about democracy and realizes through this impeachment process how fragile democracy has become could really help themselves and their fellow citizens to come to a better understanding of how “history repeats itself” by reading William L. Shirer’s classic book, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. It weighs in at 1,143 pages but it is worth every word. The parallels to our time are startling. The gradual descent from democracy to fascism is all there, laid out in highly readable, journalistic prose.
Adam Schiff spoke, during one of his beautifully presented arguments at the trial, of “moral courage.” The disintegration of moral courage on display through the votes and statements of the Republican Senators and from Mr. Trump’s defense team is the exact replica that is presented in Shirer’s book. Ask yourself these questions. As a citizen of the United States how much are you willing to concede to the rising tide of fascism that is spreading much, much faster in our country than we may be willing to admit? The German people were certainly not ready to admit that such was the case in their own country in the late 1920s. Are you prepared to sit back and watch as your rights and freedoms are chipped away to reveal the darkness that comes to a people who are willing to be hypnotized by a totalitarian rogue and his henchpeople as they show themselves to be more than willing to impose their will upon you?
Think, read about, and study the past and you will see the threat that is waiting just outside your door.
CM Brown/Boulder County
