Letters: More political discourse, fewer comments that create division

It is obvious Marlowe Thompson ("Liberals do not like America as it was for 200 years," Sept. 5) has opinions about Barack Obama. Regardless, most everything in the letter can be tracked back to yet another unsupported blog entry or viral email that, itself, was cherry-picked and selectively quoted from sources never mentioned and frequently non-existent.

It also repeats the thought virus that defines liberals as bad and the cause of all social and moral failure. Unfortunately, the continual repetition of infectious mind viruses such as this allows them to be perceived as real. Without using critical thinking, it is depressingly easy for we humans to believe just about anything. Despite how powerful our beliefs are, belief itself, does not prove validity.

Thompson's letter is a classic example of the use of unsupported, so-called facts and emotional ploys which actually subvert critical examination of issues. It is not intended to illuminate an issue, but rather to evoke emotion and cause discord. We need more political discourse, less rank propaganda, and we all need to avoid comments that do nothing except create division. No one political ideology owns patriotism.

Pat Gargaetas

Crescent City