[Peace-discuss] Re: Who's the Nitwit?

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Francis-- Thanks for your note.  My response to the N-G's editor is
below.  Best, Carl]

Editor 
News-Gazette

Being called a nitwit by John Foreman ("...the local Green Party candidate
for Congress [is] pretty much a classic lefty nitwit...,"  News-Gazette
11.10.02) is rather like being regarded as a dog by Lassie -- one assumes
the opinion is well-based in experience.  And I'm also sure that Mr.
Foreman is correct when he says that he "can't imagine we agree on one
issue in a thousand."

That opinion from the editor of the only daily in town points up the
difficulty the Green Party has in exposing the consensus of the two
pro-war, pro-business, anti-worker, and anti-environment parties.

The forms of thought control we have in this country are subtler and more
effective than those elsewhere.  Here we don't censor publications or put
editors in jail (except when absolutely necessary) because editors
wouldn't have got to where they are without knowing how to act.  We know
we have a free press -- so we're not disturbed that all the papers are
saying the same thing.  Unlike citizens of a totalitarian state, we don't
think it necessary to read between the lines.

Like his congressman, John Foreman seems unwilling to debate these issues.
Publishing some oppositional letters to the editor -- surrounded by the
extensive maunderings of right-wing columnists -- simply confirms the
limits of allowable debate: in letters that "should not exceed 250 words,"
one can of course say only conventional things (e.g., "Saddam Hussein is a
terrorist"); if one says something unconventional (e.g., "The US is a
terrorist state") one needs to be able to give reasons and arguments for
such an unheard-of opinion.  If you don't have a chance to do that, you
simply sound like a nitwit...

Regards, 
Carl Estabrook