“Community Columnist” Michael Schrader

(About the state of public discourse)

Written 25 June 2015

My favorite part of the newspaper is the “Talkback” section. If I read nothing else, I read it. I consider the “Talkback” section worth every penny of my monthly subscription.

“Talkback”, like its Internet equivalent, Twitter, is the most democratic exercise of the First Amendment, providing a forum for the common person to have a forum to express his or her viewpoints, unfiltered, unvarnished, and stripped of any pretense. It is raw, and sometimes very uninformed, nasty, and offensive. That is the best kind of speech, for it allows us to look at ourselves and exactly how we think.

Take, for example, the national discussion about the flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, what is commonly (and incorrectly) called the Confederate flag. The discussions on Twitter have been heated on both sides, and in following the tweets over the past week, I have reached several important conclusions. First, most are completely ignorant of history, relying on only one or two secondary sources to provide them with information. The problem with a secondary source is that it is one (or several, depending on the number of authors) interpretation of primary sources, and as humans, we are biased, and will interpret facts in a way that goes along with our biases. For example, the primary sources, the acts of secession themselves, specifically state the preservation of slavery as the reason for secession; however, many of the textbooks we use casually dismiss this in order to support the point of view the author is trying to promote. The second conclusion is that people are close-minded. People are convinced that they are right and others are wrong, and no amount of discussion will ever change that. Finally, people are rude, nasty, and insulting when you don’t agree with them. This saddens me, but it is what it is.

I have reached similar conclusions when I read the “back-and-forth” on “Talkback”. Many of the comments are completely, and totally, incorrect. What does being a liberal Democrat have anything to do with not wanting someone to smoke on the public beaches and greenways? When did it become a right to litter by discarding the disgusting butts carelessly on the ground? Why is it okay for motorists to inconvenience pedestrians in a park who have the legal right-of-way, but not vice versa?

We have a skewed belief that our community is a utopia where everyone is nice to each other and we share common values and viewpoints, like something out of a black-and-white television show, and those that don’t share our views are evil and misguided and insulted. Up until the past decade, the ability to express our opinion and exchange information was limited and filtered, and those who controlled the forums dictated what information was exchanged and how we viewed ourselves. No longer. As ugly and hate-filled comments on open forums can be, we need that to understand who we really are and what we really believe. Without that knowledge, we cannot improve our community and our country.

To the smokers I say this – yes, you have a right to smoke, but I have a right not to smell it or breathe it. If you want to smoke, do it, it is a free country, but do it away from others, and dispose of your butts, so animals don’t eat them. To the motorists in Pine Grove Park I say this – it is actually quicker to use Pine Grove than to go through the park; I have timed it. If you are in a hurry, go around. I just visited a park where it wasn’t kids on skateboards, but bison, who had the right-of-way. The next time you are delayed by a skateboarder, think about what you would do if it were a bison. I thought so. You’d patiently wait. Finally, to those who display or defend the display of the Rebel Flag - it represents a very bad period of our history. Instead, display something that represents what is good about America.

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