Biased By Choice?
The Editors, were they to respond to this, no doubt would claim they were reflecting the voices in their community. To which, one must say, so what? Isn’t the obligation of a local newspaper, whose reach is now all but infinite, thanks to the Internet, to teach, to communicate through knowledge, to form community, and to raise the standard of discourse? Or are Letters to the Editor merely a public forum for unedited, uneducated gay-bashing? What are Letters to the Editor for?
MyCentralJersey.com, which is run by newspaper giants Gannet and USA Today, has been stacking the deck with outrageous letters against marriage equality that clearly are so far away from the voice of reason, not to mention the voice of any community in New Jersey, that one has to wonder why they are being published, why so many are being published, and who is making the decision to publish them?
In case you didn’t click on all those links, here are titles of a few choice Letters to the Editor against marriage equality that MyCentralJersey.com saw fit to print. (Sadly, you’ll have to pay to read the full letters, but these abstracts are enough to get the gist):
“Weak bonds doom gay marriages.”
“Marriage definitions shouldn’t be abandoned.” (The entire letter reads, “Since their lover is not of the opposite sex, they cannot become husband and wife.”)
“It’s a civil union; it’s a partnership; it’s not a marriage.”
“Gay marriage approval would harm parents.”
“Gay marriage would have broad impact.”
“Homosexuality will never be accepted.”
“Gay marriage would not reflect public opinion.”
“Don’t believe rhetoric supporting gay marriage.”
“Facts are clear: Gay marriage won’t work.”
Get the picture? How many anti-marriage equality Letters to the Editor does MyCentralJersey.com feel the need to publish? Now, to be fair, they certainly publish Letters to the Editor in favor of marriage equality, but, to my eye, not in equal degree. And even if there were a one-to-one ratio, ignorance and hatred, ensconced under the headline of “opinion,” have no place in our local news, or our homes.
Take the most recent ignorant attack, today’s “Gay marriage not a civil right.” (When did we stop using verbs?) Author of the letter, Robert T. Heath, writes,
“Homosexuality is a form of same-sex relationships involving practices and behaviors that have always been understood as abnormal, unhealthy, immoral, and destructive to the fabric of any society. That fact is never going to change despite all the misinformation, lies, and deception propagated by its “advocates.”
“Who in their right mind would want our children to be taught and encouraged about homosexual lifestyles and behaviors when they are not even close to being sexually active? Yet this is already being presented in “educational” books and subtle media presentations to “indoctrinate” a way of thinking that will make homosexuality seem okay.”
Really?
As I’ve written numerous times now, Julian Bond, the Chairman of the NAACP, Coretta Scott King, Senator Nia Gill ALL agree that same sex marriage is a civil right. (Let’s not forget that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that marriage is a civil right.)
I believe in having one’s say, but it is everyone’s responsibility to hold reasoned, intelligent arguments – or spend some time with a book.
But my issue is not with Mr. Heath. No doubt the local readers of MyCentralJersey.com will roundly excoriate him, just as the readers of NJ.com did George Berkin. (Regular readers here will be pleased to learn that Mr. Berkin has not penned another piece for NJ.com since I wrote, “New Jersey: Just Say “Yes†To Gay Marriage, and “No†To George Berkin.”)
My issue is with the Editors of MyCentralJersey.com, who once again, for whatever undisclosed purpose, have chosen to publish among their pages, the ignorant ranting of an uninformed bigot.
A Letter to the Editor is not an Internet chat room. Every newspaper publisher has a responsibility to their community. It’s time the Editors of MyCentralJersey.com exercised that responsibility.