Right-Wing Alternate Reality
To the editor:
In a debate leading up to the 1980 presidential election, President Jimmy Carter made a statement that somewhat exaggerated then-candidate Ronald Reagan’s opposition to Medicare legislation being considered at the time. Reagan responded to Carter with a withering, “There you go again…” This morning, I read the Letters section of the May 10 Fayette County Record and I found myself quoting, of all people, Ronald Reagan. (I know. I was shocked, too.) Once again, the page was chock full of letters demonstrating that our right-wing friends and neighbors inhabit an alternate reality from the rest of us. There you go again… The first letter addresses the campus unrest seen across the United States in response to Israel’s attacks on Gaza. However, the writer misses the point. Few people are supporting Hamas (though there are some). The protests are not anti-Israel so much as they are pro-life. Hamas is not the victim, but the people they hide behind certainly are. It is well within the rights of students to point out that Israel is indiscriminately killing civilians with bombs made in the USA. It is okay to disagree with those students, but it is wrong to characterize the protests as pro-Hamas.
Down the page, we find another letter from some alternate reality. First of all, the writer says that the judge in the Manhattan trial has “funded the Joe Biden.” There you go again… Judge Merchan contributed $15 to the Biden campaign in 2020. He didn’t fund Biden; he bought the man a couple of cups of coffee. And, yes, Manhattan is largely populated by Democratic voters, which may (or may not) be reflected in the jury. Perhaps Mr. Trump should choose a friendlier venue in which to commit crimes. Democrats or not, New Yorkers have the right to prosecute crimes committed in their community.
The next letter is even more nonsensical. The writer cannot resist name-calling (lame stream media), which rarely advances any civil discourse. “They [Democrats] have, in the last 50 or so years, put a plan in place to destroy America. They are truly the party of lies, deceit, and hate.” There you go again… Why stop at fifty years? The letter alludes to the Democratic Party’s history supporting slavery a century and a half ago. Democrats were wrong then and, were they advocating the same now, would be wrong today. But lies, deceit, and hate? C’mon, Man! We want women to have the freedoms and privileges men enjoy. We want people to have access to healthcare and education, regardless of economic or social station. The writer asks me to explain why I support a list of supposed Democratic ideals. Rather than respond to that absurd list, perhaps the writer could provide evidence that those things are actually happening. For example, no one is “pushing sexually explicit books in school libraries.”
I truly respect the diverse viewpoints held by the many people in our community and across the nation. I believe that we all have much to learn from each other. But, before we can have truly honest conversations, we must come back to a shared reality.
David M. DeLuca La Grange