Political sensitivities and a new policy on letters to the editor
National politics have made people overly sensitive.
I know, shocker.
Ask anyone who made an offhand comment about politics — left, right or center — and has been rewarded with an angry harangue in return.
That isn’t limited to social media, which is a minefield to tread because there are hyper-partisans and trolls everywhere waiting to pounce from every direction, feeling safe in their virtual distance.
It could come in a conversation with a co-worker, a friend or a family member. You make a remark and BAM! You’re in for a tirade you didn’t expect. Good relationships turn icy instantly.
Our major political parties and our federal political leaders are to blame. They are aided and abetted by our national media outlets, including social media outlets, which are attracted like stink bugs to your warm home in the winter by the most outrageous comments and positions.
America has always been split politically, but you don’t have to be a boomer to remember when the divisions weren’t uncrossable chasms. There was a time when the widest swath of Americans leaned to varying degrees left or right. Now you have to post a flag to declare your allegiance to one side or the other.
Not only can you be attacked for picking the wrong side, but for being in the middle with the silly belief that both parties should work to find common ground in service to the nation.
As readers of this page probably noticed, a few weeks ago we included a new disclaimer at the top to let everyone know that this newspaper does not endorse the views of the people who write letters to the editor and guest columns. Their views are their views. Our views, as it happens, are written under the head of “Our Views,” or contained in an “Editor’s Desk” column such as this.
We included the disclaimer because some readers accused us of favoring letters from one political viewpoint and not another. That isn’t the case. We try to publish all of the letters we receive because we believe this page is a community forum where diverse viewpoints should be shared.
Over the past few years we did get more letters unfavorable to Donald Trump than Joe Biden, but let’s face it, Trump is an intentionally disruptive figure. He is as abhorred as he is adored. Biden may have had the animus of Trump supporters, he just didn’t engender — how do I put it? — passionate responses. Letter-writers didn’t think he was worth the energy.
Given the upheaval in the federal government right now through the flurry of our new president’s executive orders, we’re expecting the political letters to continue to flow.
What has been surprising is how personal this all has become.
Conservatives began insulting liberals by calling them snowflakes for being overly sensitive and easily offended. It wasn’t exactly wrong. There was so much liberal pearl-clutching over comments and actions from conservative politicians and pundits.
Not only that, liberals were just as quick to call out moderates and other liberals for their perceived verbal transgressions or the offense of not acting offended enough.
However, there must be a blizzard out there now because conservatives are on high-offense alert about any criticisms of the president or his policies. They’re taking it as an offense against themselves. Our severe political estrangement is making people severely defensive.
People forget the whole point of having a nation underpinned by a First Amendment that entrenched free speech as a guaranteed right is that we all are free to criticize our political leaders.
We should remember that and not take it so personally.
But back to how this relates to letters to the editor.
There is a priority for submissions.
That goes to letter-writers who haven’t submitted before, or at least in the recent past, and to those covering new topics.
That doesn’t eliminate the letters on national politics, or those from writers who, to the chagrin of some readers, submit letters frequently. It just pushes frequent writers down in the queue. If space opens and there aren’t new submissions, those who’ve written before get published.
We welcome letters on all topics, but frankly, we wish they would be on local, southern New Jersey or even statewide issues because we’re a local newspaper focused first on local news, second on regional news and third on state news.
But when people are passionate, they write about what they’re passionate about. As the local newspaper, we give them a forum. We ask our readers to understand that.
Too many people have become so sensitive about politics that they’re doing what’s known as siloing — limiting themselves only to information that matches their outlook. If it’s contrary, they don’t want to hear it. And when they see anything like that, they demand it be banished.
This page isn’t a silo.
I was going to make an analogy about barns and open doors because I grew up in Pennsylvania farm country, then thought better of it. I remembered my mother complaining about all the manure I used to track home from my friends’ places. It took the analogy in the wrong direction.
We want readers to keep sharing their opinions on this page. We also would like readers to remember they’re not going to agree with everything they read, but that is all right.
David Nahan is editor and publisher of the Ocean City Sentinel, Upper Township Sentinel, The Sentinel of Somers Point, Linwood and Northfield and the Cape May Star and Wave.