October 26, 2006

Editorial

Editor's note

Last week the News published a letter which provoked a troubled response in some villagers. It contained what some saw as an unnecessary personal attack against a villager; a few saw the letter as a threat to a whole group of people. The issue the letter addressed, the Mideast crisis, has sparked heated debate for decades; perhaps that’s the reason I allowed it to be printed, along with an inclination toward promoting free speech. But after hearing from several villagers about the fear and distress the letter caused, I understood that I had been wrong, as editor, to print it in the News.

One caller asked me to consider what I want these letter-to-the-editor pages, which we call the Community Forum, to be. It was an excellent question, one I’ve been thinking about ever since.

To me, these pages are the heart of the Yellow Springs News. As a reader, I turn to them first. I want to read the letters because they tell me what my neighbors and friends care deeply about, what they value so much that they picked up a pen and paper (some still do that!) or sat and stared at their computer screen to try to wrestle their thoughts into language. They took the risk to send those thoughts out into the world, in black and white, for each of us to see. It is no small act of courage to do so.

So these pages seem to me a place where villagers express their caring, about small things and large, local events and world affairs. As well as being the heart of the paper, these pages show us the heart of the village.

And these pages reflect who we are as a community. Because we’re Yellow Springers, we express ourselves with gusto, with passion and sometimes with pain. We are rich with articulate opinions, and these pages are, too. I hope they continue to serve as a mirror to our many passions and peeves.

I’m especially thinking about the purpose of these pages because the village faces a challenging time. Issue 21, the property tax levy, has for months provoked heated arguments over Village priorities. Smart, caring people disagree. And the levy vote seems to have sparked old resentments, including some from past controversies such as the recall campaign and the Glass Farm affordable housing debate, events that caused rifts among villagers that are with us still. The levy vote will be over on Nov. 8, but the personal hurts around the issue will linger on.

After more than 25 years of living in a village, I’m reminded again and again how small actions reverberate. We see each other all the time, on the street, shopping at Tom’s or sipping wine at the Underdog; there’s simply no getting away from each other. So that rude thing I said or did or wrote two weeks, or two years ago, always comes back to bite me, and that moment of kindness — well, that comes back, too.

I want these pages to promote community rather than divisiveness; consequently, letters which contain personal attacks will not be published. That sort of argument, called “ad hominem,” or against the man, is taught as a logical flaw in college writing classes. It doesn’t work as argument and works even less well as a way of living together.

One person’s personal attack may not be another’s, and I’m only one person. To me, a personal attack does not mean disagreeing, even forcefully, with another’s reasoning or experience or presentation. It means questioning a person’s integrity, their honesty, their character, their basic worth as a human being. Letters with that sort of argument will be returned for revision.

Please don’t misunderstand. The News Community Forum welcomes letters which contain crabbiness, deep feelings, resentments and anger along with those that contain clear-mindedness, forgiveness and humor. The News wants to promote feisty debate, calm argument and everything in between. We learn from those with whom we disagree; we grow stronger from challenging our beliefs, defending, or revising, our arguments. Our community is richer for being of many minds.

But as well as a place of heart and passion, I want these pages to be a place of respect. I’ll do my best to publish letters in a way that honors the dignity of the human beings with whom we share this small town.

—Diane Chiddister