In response to the publisher’s column on Dec. 27:
Dear Richard Budman: I appreciate The Signal’s appeals for civil discourse on Christmas day and the follow-up policy banning name calling and personal attacks going forward. I agree. Now, could you do something for us readers please? I want The Signal to join other media sources to vehemently and unequivocally condemn the president of the United States for continually violating this ideal.
Not, “Well, he’s an unconventional president,” or, “I don’t like his speech, but his results are fantastic,” or, “He just punches back when he’s attacked.” We’ve heard this kind of normalization of name calling and personal attacks by this president for over two years and it gets truly tiring and unnerving.
I’m not just talking about the dozens of demeaning names he uses to refer to his opponents or critics, I mean his oblique insults to races, countries, leaders and genders. His “misspelling” of Adam Schiff’s name is a fine example.
While it’s not exactly name calling or a personal attack, it’s equally insulting to hear intentional and irresponsible lies. He just got back from visiting the troops in Iraq and claimed he was delivering a raise for them for the first time in 10 years – false and delivered in attempting to gain political advantage.
So, Richard, you have taken on the mantle of a caring and fair-minded journalist. Please extend your caring fair-mindedness to the elephant in the room. We all know the country didn’t suddenly fall off the tracks. There has been tremendous contentiousness throughout the country through prior administrations. It’s a part of our style of self-governance. The unique, unconventional, new style of this president that is hailed by the right and decried by the left is built on crudity, meanness, demagoguery, lying, name calling and personal attacks.
Say something to make me feel that The Signal recognizes the problem. You won’t hurt conservatism – you’ll help it!
Duane Mooring
Castaic
Editor’s note: From Owner/Publisher Richard Budman: “I promise to delete any name calling or personal attacks the president makes on any of my publishing platforms. Please understand that the president and everyone else has a First Amendment right to as much name calling or personal attacks as they wish. The First Amendment, however, does not give anyone the right to write or post on any of our platforms. This is a privately owned newspaper and we may choose to publish whom we want and to enforce any guidelines we choose. We choose to publish everyone without regard to their content as long as they follow the stated rules.”
