Letter to the Editor: Don’t be dismissive of opposing views
Published 11:00 am Wednesday, August 5, 2026
Do reasonable letters to the editor on reasonable topics here cause readers to think? Does a provocative and/or contrary vein-popping opinion start a conversation? If so, why does Mr. Kristopher Galvin seem to take exception to this?
Mr. Galvin’s public service readers’ guide (“A reader’s guide to Courier-Herald letters,” published July 22) does not give columnist Mr. Rich Elfers, rational letter writers and astute readers here enough credit to be able to objectively discern content, perform research, and to contemplate issues in order to form reasonable opinions on their own.
Mr. Galvin’s sorting letter writers into positive and negative categories, while also judging the content and encouraging prospective readers to accept his judgments, strikes me as presumptuous and risky. Mr. Galvin’s dismissive characterization of writers whose subject matter he dislikes—particularly in his final two paragraphs—seems unnecessarily judgmental and risks discouraging the open exchange of differing viewpoints. We all should be wary of his instructions. After all, we are all free to participate in the challenging exercise of writing letters to the editor. Let’s all stand up and give a big hand to editor Raymond Still for all of his hard work and for publishing Galvin’s letters and everyone else’s letters too (emphasis here).
Rational people hold a wide range of beliefs—or no religious beliefs at all—and those differences alone should not be construed as negative and should not determine the value or character of their contributions to a public discussion. I don’t pretend to be an expert on religion so I am happy to shut-up and to be the last person quoting scripture in this newspaper. Although, one could argue that Ms. Butler’s and Mr. Benson’s arguments are worthy, logical, profound, arguably air-tight and cogent; and their rationalizations leave me amused.
I agree with Mr. Galvin that writers here should “seek to celebrate and preserve American constitutional institutions.” What has happened to America since Kate Smith, Woody Guthrie and Ray Charles famously sang uplifting and unifying songs about America? America today is not the same America that existed when Whitney Houston sang a masterpiece National Anthem during the Super Bowl (trivia: the anthem’s tempo was slowed and she held certain notes longer. Genius!). We should be aware of and vigilant (and not gullible) against Goebbels-like authoritarianism, cults, racism, xenophobia, illegal opportunistic self-dealing, the governing by grievance and from saccharine flag kissing zealotry in America by the best way we know how; and for some of us, it’s voting, it’s writing letters to Congressional representatives and yes, writing letters to a newspaper editor.
While I’ve never scratched “insults on public restroom walls,” I am often motivated to express my opinions here for my own therapy and because I am reminded of Martin Niemöller’s poem “First They Came.” The last line reads, “Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
Stanley McKie
Enumclaw
