Cal Thomas comes to wrong conclusion
The Free Press editorial page has done its readers a disservice by publishing Cal Thomas' musings on July 20. Thomas misleads us.
From the true fact that health officials such as Fauci, Walensky and Gebreyesus (all subject to intense political pressure) have wavered in their public COVID statements, Thomas draws the unwarranted conclusion that - being less than infallible - their opinions are worth no more than yours or mine. Consequence? We are no safer following their advice (to mask up or not, to accept vaccinations) than by trusting our own hunches. If they can misjudge things, so much for them! Accepting a vaccination is a coin-flip.
This does not follow at all. Pandemics do not follow just one predictable course; there are unforeseen developments (for example, the delta variant). These developments require earlier judgments to be revised. Medical commentators need not be infallible to advise the public; they are only required to have superior understanding to what ordinary citizens possess. We should listen to them and take their advice.
Of course, many Americans want to see it as Thomas does; that is why we now have a preventable pandemic of the unvaccinated.
Kenneth J. Stewart, Lookout Mountain, Georgia
Luckovich cartoons on CRT are misleading
The editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich is clearly talented – he can convey a message with a picture and very few words. I regularly disagree with him, and he is entitled to his opinion, but he is not entitled to publish opinions based on lies. Some of his messages have the apparent intention of depicting and fostering misinformation.
I specifically refer to recent cartoons about critical race theory that show opposition to CRT as supporting teaching only those parts of history that are comfortable. Much to the contrary, opposition to CRT supports full discussion of the difficult and painful issues of our history.
CRT only offers criticism without a path to redemption or racial reconciliation; and then it seeks to spread the guilt of past injustices to those who bear no guilt.
CRT proposes that skin color defines most aspects of our society, which is the exact opposite of the ideals expressed by Martin Luther King Jr in his "I Have a Dream" speech of seeing the content of a person's character rather than the color of their skin. Laws, policies, and social norms are fulfilling King's dreams by becoming more color blind, but CRT would have the effect of reversing those gains.
Dennis Urbaniak, Signal Mountain
Disinfect GOP lies with the truth
Lily-white Republicans have driven themselves into a Benghazi-like hysteria about "Critical Race Theory."
Their claim is that their private school snowflakes might develop a case of racial self-hatred if they learn about the brutality that white Americans perpetrated against Blacks during the centuries of slavery and Jim Crow. To protect these little jewels from this knowledge, this reality must be completely suppressed. Teachers must not "breathe a word" about this history or even suggest that we are a nation afflicted with institutional racism. If they do, they will face persecution by Republican overlords.
Cultivating and spreading ignorance is the Republican path to power. They substitute "belief" for "facts" and invalidate reality with "big lies."
Here are four of biggest facts that they want to suppress: Trump killed thousands of Americans with his incompetence; Trump lost the election by 7 million votes; Republicans attempted a coup on Jan. 6 to subvert the presidential vote count; and Republicans at every level of government supported the insurrection. If Americans know and understand these facts, coup leaders, funders and facilitators will be arrested, prosecuted and "locked up."
It is time to stop treating criminals like "tourists."
Terry Stulce, Ooltewah