Sherry Allen – 4/7/10

This page was last updated on April 7, 2010.

Use freedom of speech wisely; Sherry Allen; Beaver County Times; April 7, 2010.

Ms. Allen wrote three previous letters I didn’t critique. One (“Conserving water for future,” 1/13/08) asked us to conserve water (primarily by not eating meat) and another (“Say ‘no’ to push polling,” 2/10/08) complained about alleged telephone “push polls” by Republicans, and the third was (“Plant a garden to offset oil usage,” 8/1/08). In one letter I did critique, Ms. Allen gushed about a book she found “that has hundreds of ideas on how to save our planet.” In a partisan letter, Ms. Allen concluded with “Let’s endeavor to walk together peacefully.” In one letter, Ms. Allen related a story of disaffected Republicans voting for Mr. Obama. In another letter, Ms. Allen tried to compare abortion and war in an effort to promote Barack Obama over John McCain. Other letters from Ms. Allen were entitled “Let’s be proactive on the environment,” “Arena a valuable community asset,” “Time to get behind health-care reform,” “A state budget we can all live with,” “Keep pushing for a public option,” “Election ruling terrible for nation,” “Practicing small acts of kindness,” and “It’s how we act after events that matters.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“I appreciated Becky Castelli’s Friday letter to the editor, ‘Use free speech in a dignified way.’”

[RWC] Though the titles of this letter and the subject letter are similar, the letters themselves are very different. I thank Ms. Allen for providing a teachable moment. If you haven’t caught what I mean by the end of the letter, I’ll explain it.

“I share her concern about our health care reform. But as one progressive said on Bill Moyers’ television program, ‘We have to reform the reform.’”

[RWC] What does this mean? Is Ms. Allen indicating Obamacare isn’t far enough down the road to a government-run, taxpayer-funded healthcare monopoly? Also, remember “progressive” is what liberals want to be called for now.

“As a writer, I treasure our freedom of speech and know our words can be healing and helpful or hurtful and destructive.”

[RWC] Ms. Allen “treasure[s] our freedom of speech?” You may recall Ms. Allen wrote a letter opposing a Supreme Court ruling reinforcing that freedom. Based on her words, it appears Ms. Allen “treasure[s] our freedom of speech” only for certain people and opinions.

“Unfortunately, the violence we’re witnessing is the fruit produced by the radical right’s hate-filled propaganda. (Like Bill O’Reilly on Fox News and others.)”

[RWC] Those on the left tend to have a different definition of “hate” than most of us. To lefties, any opposition - no matter how measured or peaceful - to leftist policies is “hate-filled propaganda.” Ms. Allen went down this road at least once before in “Time for all Americans to unite.”

I’m not a Bill O’Reilly fan, but the few times I’ve seen his show I didn’t see anything that could be remotely called hate, unless you use the lefty definition. Since Ms. Allen didn’t mention them, I guess she believes pundits like Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann don’t engage in “hate-filled propaganda.” Has Ms. Allen read J.D. Prose’s columns and Times editorials?

Did you note Ms. Allen failed to mention “the living Hell” U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) said he went through at the hands of lefties upset about his (now known to be phony) “pro-life” opposition to the healthcare bill? I guess that wasn’t “hate-filled” speech. Where was the letter last August when a wheelchair-bound man protesting at a St. Louis town hall meeting held by Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO) was beat up by a bunch of people wearing SEIU shirts? I guess that wasn’t “violence.”

“Seneca [the younger] said, ‘It is a great thing to know the season for speech and the season for silence.’”

[RWC] Translation: Ms. Allen wants anyone speaking out against Obamacare to be silent.

“I’m very concerned about our Supreme Court’s pending decision on a court case about a hate group that hurt many of the families of our fallen soldiers’ during funeral services.”

[RWC] Ms. Allen is linking opposition to Obamacare (and leftism in general?) with the wackos of the Westboro Baptist Church?

“Will we lose our freedom of speech because hate was permitted? Where do we draw the line?”

[RWC] What does this mean?

“Let’s use our season for speech wisely.”

[RWC] Translation: Support what Ms. Allen supports or shut up.

Did you catch the teachable moment?

In the Castelli letter, the author (a self-described “conservative”) believed what she heard/read in the mainstream media and assumed the alleged bad behavior was on the right. At no point did Ms. Castelli criticize anyone other than those allegedly behaving badly. Ms. Castelli appeared to want “to keep her own house clean” and at no point did she attack anyone on the left. Heck, Ms. Castelli didn’t even mention the left.

In contrast, Ms. Allen launched into an attempted smear of everyone on the right and didn’t even acknowledge any bad behavior by her fellow travelers.