Letters policy: Send by e-mail to letters@gainesvilletimes.com (no attached files, please, which can contain viruses); fax to 770-532-0457; mail to The Times, P.O. Box 838, Gainesville, GA 30503; or click HERE for a form. Include full name, hometown and phone number for confirmation. They should be limited to one topic on issues of public interest and may be edited for content and length (limit of 500 words). Letters originating from other sources, those involving personal, business or legal disputes, poetry, expressions of faith or memorial tributes may be rejected. You may be limited to one letter per month, two on a single topic. Submitted items may be published in print, electronic or other forms. Letters, columns and cartoons express the opinions of the authors and not of The Times editorial board.
According to Jesse Corn's Friday column, Christians and conservatives are the root of all evil. Although he was undoubtedly too young to have lived or been old enough to have been involved during the 1960s and '70s, he manages to blame the "far right" and "mainstream Christians" for open hatred and commitment to violence in support of "social segregation."
I lived during that period and there was no such association with Christians and the "far right" (conservatives). The segregationist movement was a relatively small portion of the public with a loud voice, and included both "far left" and "far right" nuts, but did not necessarily include true "Christians." Mr. Corn has every right to his views, but he has no right to attribute "vicious rhetoric" and "open hatred" only to groups that have differing political and religious views with his.
His verbal attack on conservatives such as Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck is completely unwarranted. Referring to them as "celebrity bullies" using "vicious rhetoric" without facts or strength of argument is almost comedic when you consider the extremes in verbiage expressed by "far left" personalities such as Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and a few others who go far beyond anything espoused by any "right" leaning individual.
I've never heard either of the individuals that he attacks, or even tea party groups, using any vicious rhetoric or promoting violence. Conservatives stating that they want less government, lower taxes and reduction of the deficit hardly meet the definition of vicious rhetoric. His description of Bill Evelyn's use of the term "tyrannical" as vicious and incendiary, in reference to our federal system, is about as petty as you can get.
How does that compare with our president's tacky (tyrannical) response to a Republican challenge to some of his proposed legislation to "bring it on" with reference to a knife and gun fight?
In the same speech, he said the Republicans were welcome to attend, but they might as well know they would be sitting in the back! That's what I call vicious aggressive rhetoric. I thought he was supposed to be everyone's president working for the country, and not campaigning for the next election.
Furthermore, when a president and his administration do everything they can to skirt the Constitution in passing their legislation, that's classic tyranny.
Mr. Corn, you need to bring a modicum of objectivity to the table.
Monte E. Seehorn
Gainesville