Reader’s letter on First Amendment ignores conservative double standard

Published 1:30 am Friday, April 7, 2023

I debated whether to respond to a recent letter to the editor complaining about the canceling of Scott Adams’ “Dilbert” comic. After years of reading complaints from readers about The Herald’s liberal slant, which ignored the fact that conservative columnists such as Debra Saunders, Kathleen Parker, and Megan McArdle, are regularly included, his letter seemed like more conservative snowflakery. It’s clear the reader misunderstands the First Amendment, as the Herald’s opinion editor appropriately pointed out. Nobody is stopping Adams from saying what he wants. But none of us are required by the Constitution to pay him to say it, and you can still find his comic strip and hear his political views online.

The reader’s complaints about the liberal media, however, conveniently ignore how right-wing politicians are hard at work canceling or obfuscating the truth, as they rewrite history or ban textbooks to minimize the discomfort that learning about slavery, Jim Crow laws, human sexuality, and other inconvenient facts might cause. Apparently, he’s not concerned about the significant increase in book banning by conservative groups interested in removing any trace of ideas that differ from theirs on race, family, history and sexuality; including the picture book, “And Tango Makes Three” based on the true story of two male penguins who raise a chick. As if reading about something automatically means the reader will be converted to whatever the writer describes.

It would seem that reader’s world and that of many conservatives, it’s all right to ban books and rewrite history, but heaven forbid anyone have a different worldview. Then we need a law to stop that kind of thinking.

Eileen Simmons

Everett