Letter writer was 'nauseated and surprised'

To the Editor:

No thanks for the letter you printed titled "Democracy Day was entertaining, and informative" [March 2017 issue]. It was mean-spirited from the start. The writer began by slinging mud on the good intentions of good people. He stated that they were there [at the annual Democracy Day hearing] to restrict the first amendment. Untrue.

He follows this with two bad analogies. One about the inner workings of the minds of the judges. At the same time insulting the intelligence of anyone there by doubting that any of them had read the decision. Maybe he read it maybe not.

Next, one had to wonder what was meant when there was a reference to lyrics of a song from "The Music Man." Was he saying that everyone knows that there is too much money in politics, or that there is not[?] Not sure. My guess, he was mocking people, saying "dugh, everybody knows that."

I started to feel sick when he described some [of] the speakers as cranks and crackpots. I had to walk away when he called people losers and wrote like this: "(you know who you are)." I am surprised to see that words as insulting, degrading and mean-spirited would appear in the Heights Observer. Could it be that bullying has become acceptable argument in the eyes of the editor?

[Editor’s note: The Heights Observer publishes letters and opinions representing diverse viewpoints. The Heights Observer (www.heightsobserver.org/read/policies) asks that submissions be civil, and reminds contributors that they “own [their] posts and words.” While the tone of the Democracy Day letter gave us pause, as it was not directed at any named individual(s), we opted to publish rather than censor the letter.]