In response to Mary Fahnestock-Thomas’ letter in last week’s issue: While I applaud her denouncement of the racially-motivated massacre in South Carolina, as well as her concluding sentiments for universal tolerance and respect for others, I believe her idealism is nonetheless naive, even misinformed, in respect to the actual catalyst.
For example, she claims that, even here in the Bitterroot Valley, racism is a “problem” based on the number of bumper stickers she sees featuring the confederate flag.
I’ve been here two years and travel Hwy 93 daily, and I’ve seen exactly one such bumper-sticker in all that time.
Only one — and trust me, I personally would notice such a bumper sticker, simply because I’m from Alabama.
Perhaps she travels in a different area of the Valley, and I’m simply not seeing what she’s seeing. It’s possible. But, still, why do I have this sneaking suspicion she’s using South Carolina and whatever number of confederate-flag bumper-stickers she claims to have seen as a means to substantiate a “race problem” here?
That’s ridiculous. And bringing up guns and the violent subjugation of Native Americans centuries ago isn’t going to help validate her position (That’s like an atheist using the Salem Witch Trials as “proof” that it’s still a “problem” in post-Millennial America).
At the beginning of this letter, I mentioned the term “catalyst”, and basically said that she doesn’t really know what one is.
The catalyst is YOU, Mary … along with the millions of other Americans who have been duped by the “progressive” liberal media — from Ferguson to South Carolina — that this country has somehow inexplicably time-traveled back to the era of white tanks, firehoses and white-robed lynch-mobs.
See, when Huffpost, NBC, ABC, CNN and PBS are dictating your mindset, telling you what to think and how to perceive the society in which you so accidentally found yourself (just like the rest of us), it’s really hard to employ critical thinking skills when a TV talking head is making such a STINK about a cop getting some Burger King for Dylann Roof.
Take it from a journalist who knows just how powerful the media is … and just how badly it has disgraced itself, acting as a prime and willing component in a society that has lost its own identity.
Jason Cornelius
Victor