I find the opinion page of the Gazette continues to provoke and engage.

An Aug. 20 letter, on the alleged intolerance of liberals, cited “one recent (offending) letter,” without giving any clue as to which letter was in question. This lack of specificity put me in mind of some right-wing mailings I received for a while.

Here is a quote from a message, purportedly from Ann Coulter: “These liberals have had their way on campus for so long they can’t even frame a coherent argument when their strongly-held views are criticized!”

A “coherent argument” about what? “Strongly-held views” about what? Coulter, as channeled by the senders of this mailing, did not deign to say.

Joe Gannon, in his Aug. 10 column, seemed to suppose that people with right-wing views identify themselves as “the lone-wolf pioneer.” I sense that, rather, they see themselves as part of a group. Those who show up for Trump rallies to see their hero put down everyone and everything that does not burnish Trump’s image are assembling with like-minded people. White supremacists seek each other out online. Allies of Clive Bundy gather from all over when the family puts out the call.

A book called “The Constitution,” by Page Smith, that I have borrowed from Forbes Library, sets up a contrast that resembles Gannon’s “individual versus the people” thinking, but is somewhat different, too. Smith says there used to be a “classical Christian consciousness” in our country, which posited a notion of humans as inherently sinful and, so, was skeptical of social movements toward perfecting our union.

While right-wing folks might consider that sin-informed thinking is only useful in criticizing the liberal crowd, I suggest it applies very much to the demagoguery of Trump — and also to the inflamed passions of the “right-to-life” movement.

Abortion terminates what could most often, though not always, become a human life; but people must sometimes face tragic choices. Helping ourselves and each other to avoid encountering them may be more useful than criminalizing tragic choices.

Mary H. Hall

South Hadley