Letter: Cal Thomas column wastes space
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Is there any particular reason The Advocate has chosen to give so much column space this summer to Cal Thomas? I ask because his columns are so predictable that I get little from them. Other columns that you publish have much more to offer.
Thomas’s columns are simply variations on these ideas: Government is the problem, taxes are theft, there are no truly disadvantaged groups or individuals and liberals promote dependency. While these are certainly arguable ideas, Thomas doesn’t argue them, which would mean presenting evidence supporting them. Instead, he presents his ideas as facts, while ignoring all the evidence that contradicts them.
A contrasting set of ideas exists, which is equally worthy of argument: Good governments prevent and solve shared problems, taxes make good government possible, opportunity is extremely unequal right now in our society and liberals want to equalize opportunity and create good government. There is considerable evidence supporting these ideas, which is not hard to find, and the better columns you print help readers check both sets of ideas against the facts.
Beyond his waste of newspaper space, I would suggest that Thomas is a poor role model for our young people, who should be learning to distinguish interpretations from facts, using critical thinking to arrive at their own interpretations and ideas. Thomas’s columns represent “spin,” the point of which is to twist facts to support popular ideas. There is nothing moral, democratic, freedom-loving or educational about such propaganda, and I hope you will give less editorial space to it in the future.
Pamela Behan
teacher
Baton Rouge
Thomas’s columns are simply variations on these ideas: Government is the problem, taxes are theft, there are no truly disadvantaged groups or individuals and liberals promote dependency. While these are certainly arguable ideas, Thomas doesn’t argue them, which would mean presenting evidence supporting them. Instead, he presents his ideas as facts, while ignoring all the evidence that contradicts them.
A contrasting set of ideas exists, which is equally worthy of argument: Good governments prevent and solve shared problems, taxes make good government possible, opportunity is extremely unequal right now in our society and liberals want to equalize opportunity and create good government. There is considerable evidence supporting these ideas, which is not hard to find, and the better columns you print help readers check both sets of ideas against the facts.
Beyond his waste of newspaper space, I would suggest that Thomas is a poor role model for our young people, who should be learning to distinguish interpretations from facts, using critical thinking to arrive at their own interpretations and ideas. Thomas’s columns represent “spin,” the point of which is to twist facts to support popular ideas. There is nothing moral, democratic, freedom-loving or educational about such propaganda, and I hope you will give less editorial space to it in the future.
Pamela Behan
teacher
Baton Rouge
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