Letter - Will it never end?

To the editor:

I’ve been reading the Echo Press since I was growing up in Alexandria many years ago. In recent years I’ve been reading the online version. More recently I’ve been reading a variety of other Forum Communications newspapers online too. Unfortunately, there are some common themes – the worst of which is hate against fellow Americans – just for expressing their personal views.

I have become accustomed to reading over-the-top opinion pieces from those who are in constant attack mode. I was not prepared to be a witness to wholesale attacks in such a wide variety of publications, however. Comments made in the Area Voices section of the Echo Press have included people of sound character being accused of being racists, bigots, liars and the like. It went unchecked for some time.

This sort of aberrant human behavior is even worse in other Forum Communications publications. Some recent reads have shown attacks against Glenn Beck, all Republicans, the Tea Party, state, local and national politicians and even a young woman by the name of Bristol Palin. In one such discussion thread in the Fargo newspaper, there were over 300 comments about Bristol Palin, the majority of which reflected a hateful and apoplectic disdain for the young woman – just because she was trying to do something of value. Eventually over half of the comments posted were deleted, and the thread was cut off from further discussion.

This sort of thing is becoming more and more common. So-called discussions that get out of hand with insults and name-calling get blocked, penalizing the posts of decent readers. In essence, the violators win the war. They just return to do more and more damage to others another time. Maybe Forum Communications needs to take another serious look at all this. It is really getting very old.

Jerry Haberer

Sioux Falls, SD

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