Gilbert Engel - Letter to Editor

Editor:

Is this a country dominated by fear? To me fear results in responses such as isolation, suspicion, irrationality, violence, discrimination, panic, and extremism. This appears to be the state of the country today. We saw it recently in a young person kill for knocking on a door, a young women shot for turning in a wrong driveway, and several innocent people of color killed by police and civilians. Fear has made this country the most dangerous and violent country in the western world. Our answer has been more guns, less regulation and in some places no regulation of where, and who can get and use a gun generally justified by a bogus 2nd Amendment argument. What we don’t seem to understand is that this kind of fear destroys, divides, and leads to only more innocent death, more isolation of people, more scapegoating of minority groups (racial or religious) causing serious damage to the social fabric of this country.

Who uses fear? Political parties have but this is particularly true of the Republican Parties Maga group that seems in clear control of the Party. Others that seem to use it are extremist, social media, and some religious group often indirectly. The problem is fears sell papers, increases viewership, and increases membership. I feel the solution is to resist isolation, vote out political parties that use fear to get votes, and seek positive honest reporting.

Gilbert Engel
Niagara, WI

 

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