With the Media Research Center in Reston, Virginia, concluding that 91 percent of television network reporting on President Donald Trump during the summer was negative — and with local newspaper coverage and editorial page content hovering in the same range — it seems that there are far too many critics and an unhealthy atmosphere prevailing here in the Valley.
Most of the letters and columns give the impression that the authors are competing to see who can be the most negative. Also, liberal professors at New England colleges far outnumber their conservative colleagues.
With reckless repetition, labels are spewed out — liar, racist, jerk, bozo, misogynist, bomb-thrower, white supremacist — all of which don’t deal with important issues but do say a lot about the lack of civility and respect by the writers.
Their ignorance is evident by the misuse of the term “Nazi’ which has a far more sinister implication for those of us who grew up during World War II and viewed the newsreels showing the stacks of dead bodies at the various Nazi death camps.
At the same time, the mainstream media refuses to give President Trump credit for any of his accomplishments. He could find the cure for the common cold and still be criticized.
Yet, he has eliminated dozens of the economy/job-stifling regulations resulting in a big improvement in both areas. For the first time in eight years, the annual growth of the economy has reached 3 percent, illegal immigration has been cut 70 percent and the stock market is up.
Finally, after eight years of a president going abroad and spending far too much time negatively apologizing and trying to hang a guilt trip on us, we have a president who has a realistic, patriotic and positive outlook at home and abroad which was brilliantly and courageously outlined in his United Nations speech.
What is really refreshing about our president is that he is not a politician. He’s not afraid of criticism. The fact that his approval rating is not high is a positive indicator that he is more concerned with doing what is right instead of being hampered by political correctness.
Also, it seems too many people don’t want to question authority anymore. They blindly accept the theory of anthropogenic climate change when, in fact, there are plenty of opposing scientific viewpoints.
Does anybody really believe former President Barack Obama’s assertion that 97 percent of climate scientists support the idea that humans are responsible for the climate that’s been changing for billions of years? Google Peter Doran and Maggie Kendall Zimmerman and find the truth about that preposterous figure.
The believers in the theory that humans are to blame for global warming are obligated to research opposing scientific points of view and then form their opinions. How can they label skeptics “deniers” when they have not listened to what the skeptics have to say?
I urge anyone who is honestly concerned about climate change to read Roy Spencer’s book “An Inconvenient Deception: How Al Gore Distorts Climate Science and Energy Policy.” It’s not a very long read and it isn’t full of complicated scientific jargon. If you do your homework, you might even feel better not having to wear the climate-change hair shirt anymore.
Finally, I hope that all of us can agree that the kind of global warming that we are capable of controlling is that of positively promoting good will, tolerance and civility.
Bob Couch, of Easthampton, is a retired math and photography teacher at the Williston Northampton School.