Letter to the Editor: Maneater columnists should clarify their viewpoint
Published Jan. 31, 2006
In response to "Throwing Down the Metaphorical Gauntlet," Jan. 27: It's lovely that Kris Mescher has her right to free speech — that's sort of the idea in the United States. However, before she worries desperately about the big bad conservative president tapping her calls to whatever overseas mental ward she looks to for her opinions, she should reach back in the old memory bank and realize the same thing happened during the Clinton administration.
As a conservative who isn't a fan of Billy Ray Cyrus, the Rev. Pat Robertson or any other straw man she was busy stringing up, I figure it might interest her to know that bit about Bill Clinton. Similarly, if she's going to worry about her personal freedoms being "picked apart," she might try and list the ones she's particularly worried about and see if they're still there. In the U.S. she's got the right to criticize the government. Try that in China or Russia. She also has the safety to criticize religion. Try that in, say, Holland, where Theo Van Gogh was murdered for filming a documentary about Islam. It's the right and the duty of the press to be vigilant about protecting the personal freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution, but it's also important that the press works a little harder to clarify its viewpoint.