In response to Jamie Guerin’s guest column on the tyranny of politeness (“The tyranny of politeness: How civility because a tool of silence,” Sept. 30), I will eschew my usual “insidious civility” and respond thusly: exactly how did the writer’s truth get to be the undeniable truth? Why does the writer get to decide what is tyrannical, what is colonial, what is poisoning? And when you get in people’s faces, why is any response automatically labelled a power move?
Guerin’s definition of marginalized is clearly not mine. And, by the way, that does not mean that I support bullying, lying, treachery, racism, homophobia, misogyny, or anything else being promoted in MAGAland. I’m naming one of the harms and tyranny I see — it is the “hard left” bullying everyone who doesn’t agree one hundred percent with their truths.
We need decent, civilized discussion between differing views. This is hard to accomplish but it requires accepting that people with opposing views are not by definition the enemy — on all sides. Everyone should have a seat at the table — everyone — as long as they do not cross the line into threatening others.
Doron Goldman
Northampton