Friday, December 31, 2004
Trash talk goes into the trash can
Mr. J.K. Murphy, excecutive editor of this newspaper, in evaluating the letters to the editor column, has, in his infinite wisdom, re-iterated the ground rules that determine whether or not a submitted letter will be acceptable. One of these ground rules states that personal attacks and name calling will not be tolerated,
"trash talk goes into the trash can". Regardless of how we might feel about a letter we regard as offensive, we are not to call the letter writer stupid or refer to him as an idiot...despite his obvious qualifications. I sincerely hope that 'thumb sucking, tax and spend liberal' is right in there with 'stupid' and 'idiot' as a banned expletive. One can only hope. I personally vow to take the high road in any further contributions I may make to this column. At least I will give it my best shot. I had originally intended to comment on the Republican led Congress's
attempt to roll back house member's accountability for ethics violations and to curtail investigations of same. Imagine the outrage if a Democratic led congress
tried to do this. It is at this point that the words 'stupid' and 'idiot' fight to make their way into print and I must rerstrain myself or bear the wrath of the estimable Mr. Murphy and I would never want to do that. Happy New Year, Mr. Murphy and to all the troops at your command.
George Morin
Auburn
"trash talk goes into the trash can". Regardless of how we might feel about a letter we regard as offensive, we are not to call the letter writer stupid or refer to him as an idiot...despite his obvious qualifications. I sincerely hope that 'thumb sucking, tax and spend liberal' is right in there with 'stupid' and 'idiot' as a banned expletive. One can only hope. I personally vow to take the high road in any further contributions I may make to this column. At least I will give it my best shot. I had originally intended to comment on the Republican led Congress's
attempt to roll back house member's accountability for ethics violations and to curtail investigations of same. Imagine the outrage if a Democratic led congress
tried to do this. It is at this point that the words 'stupid' and 'idiot' fight to make their way into print and I must rerstrain myself or bear the wrath of the estimable Mr. Murphy and I would never want to do that. Happy New Year, Mr. Murphy and to all the troops at your command.
George Morin
Auburn
