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Embrace freedom to speak well, too.
As a newspaper, we’re in the business of open information.
We’ll be first in line to stand up for the First Amendment, and will do all we can to fight censorship, as long as the content meets our standards.
Still, with that freedom comes responsibility, and it’s sad to see how a decision to run a letter to the editor last week has turned into a firestorm of name-calling and nastiness.
At a time when there are major issues facing Americans — national elections, a struggling economy and a war in Iraq — many residents have gotten fired up about a letter that criticized the dance moves of the Patterson High School basketball cheer squad.
Several comments on the Irrigator’s Web page allege that the ideas behind the letter, written by Tracy resident Klaudia Fuzi, originated from an in-town source who was afraid to go public with her opinion.
Regardless of whether that is the case, some of the backbiting on both sides of the issue that has appeared in Web site comments has gotten tiresome and out of hand.
Does the First Amendment defend such speech? Sure. However, residents need to make up their own minds about whether contributing to this firestorm benefits the community.
Obviously, some cheerleaders and parents of cheerleaders felt maligned by Fuzi’s letter to the editor. A wonderful way to respond would be to write a letter to the editor in response. Even more kudos if the letter is written in a respectful manner, as was the case in a comment left by the Patterson High basketball cheerleading coach.
In many ways, posting an anonymous attack on a Web site is an act of cowardice. When people have to sign their name or make a public statement, they choose their words more carefully, as they are held accountable for those words.
In this age of instant everything, an individual with a quick temper can write a comment on a Web site and hit the send button while still feeling the heat of anger. If that person had to find a piece of paper, write down his or her thoughts legibly, address an envelope and take it to the post office, there would be time to calm down.
People surely will be attracted to backbiting and gossip, wherever it turns up. As the old biblical adage goes, “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
But perhaps there is a more excellent way.
It is not the newspaper’s place to censor or water down someone’s words. However, as readers, you have the choice to decide what kind of community you want to make this — both in town and on the Web.
Too many feelings and reputations already have been damaged. It would be best for residents to use their freedom of speech in a constructive manner — even if that means constructive criticism — rather than to destroy each other.
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