It has been about 13 years since I submitted a letter with this header. And The Park Record printed it.
In the succeeding years the issue has metastasized to an extremely dangerous problem. Enhanced by biased media reporting for eyeballs vs. honest journalism, and inexorably multiplied by social media where one may only see their own biased perspectives via an echo chamber that is completely reinforced by “views.”
What is lost is dialogue and debate. What is dangerously missing is honest inquiry and thoughtful discussion. The cancel culture that was instrumental in rejecting debate has grown to an unsustainable level.
It is up to each of us to reject isolationism, to escape our own echo chambers and get back to real dialogue and debate.
In politics, I look to how very conservative President Reagan and then very liberal House Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Reilly worked together respectfully to forge a path forward. Failure here is just not acceptable and it will take each and every one of us to do our parts.
Jim Arnold
Park City