Nailing Jello on the Wall (and keeping it there): Finally Fed Up

Well, I finally had it up to here with our local newspaper. How many times, over the years, have I seen or read something in the paper and said, "I ought to write a letter to the editor!" or "I am just going to cancel my subscription to this rag!" and then done nothing. Last Friday, I finally did both. The only thing that has made it less than satisfying is that I can't get them to quit delivering the paper to the house. Every morning, there is another Star wrapped up in a plastic bag lying in the driveway. I have just thrown them into the backseat of my car to stack up. Each day, I say, "I ought to dump them on somebody's desk at the newspaper!" Here's the letter. I will welcome any suggestions as to what to do with the pile of unopened and unread papers in my backseat.

Opinion Editor

Valley Morning Star

1300 South Commerce Street

Harlingen, Texas 78550

Gentlemen:

I have subscribed to the Valley Morning Star for thirty-six years. That will end today.

Although I have often disagreed with the political and editorial positions taken by the Star and its publisher owners, I have tolerated them in exchange for having access to local news and other features of the paper. Anyone who knows me also knows that I am just generally tolerant of the views of others. In fact, I have found over the years that the libertarian philosophy of the Star and my own progressive/liberal philosophy sometimes even intersect or overlap.

There is no one, and I mean no one, who is a more staunch and consistent believer in the First Amendment than I am. I absolutely believe that we are each entitled to speak freely and to voice even the most distasteful or repugnant opinions imaginable. Over three decades ago, I first read the opinion of the United States Supreme Court upholding the right of the National Socialist Party of America (a neo-Nazi group) to obtain a permit to march in their obnoxious swastika-emblazoned uniforms and to shout their venomous views in Skokie, Illinois. I followed the subsequent history of that episode and the triumph of public opinion over the pathetic showing of those parading marchers when they finally straggled through Chicago neighborhoods. I was reinforced in my belief that our great American marketplace of ideas really is capable of sorting out and discarding the most atrocious of views. I have often used the example of the Skokie case with my own children to demonstrate the wisdom of the First Amendment and the importance of tolerance. I mention this case only to underscore my willingness to accept the expression by others of the most extreme views.

I have to admit that my beliefs have been ferociously tested over the last year by the tea-baggers and by some of the hate mongers of the far right. I have been disturbed by the tone of our political dialogue in which many people no longer seem capable of disagreeing with others because they believe they are right and others are wrong but because they believe they are good and others are evil. I have watched this deterioration in action in the letters to the editor and guest column sections of the Valley Morning Star editorial page. I don’t like it and don’t agree with it, but I have tolerated it.

However, today’s edition of the paper was different. On page A4 of the October 30, 2009 edition, I was subjected to yet another in a series of the hateful expressions of Arlin Taft Combs in a piece labeled “The Comedian Cometh”. I can only assume that the piece was a paid advertisement since it appeared among adjacent ads for a local caterer/restaurant, a local attorney, Valley Proud, and a congratulatory ad for the VMS Reader’s Choice Awards. In other words, the owners of the Valley Morning Star actually charged Mr. Combs and made money for running his garbage bucket of lies and hate. Several months back, I thought the Star had reached the bottom when it started running paid advertisements on its front page. I was wrong. It hit the bottom today and is no longer worthy of being called a newspaper.

Like those members of the National Socialist Party of America in Skokie, Arlin Taft Combs has the right to express his opinions. He is even entitled to lie. As much as it disturbs me to say it, I defend his right to say what he pleases. He is as wrong as he can be and I assume the marketplace of ideas, and almost all of the Star readers, will reject his views for the pure crap they are. The publishers of the Valley Morning Star, on the other hand, ought to have the good sense and business judgment not to be his platform. They ought to have a higher standard for what they elect to print on their opinion page but they are free to lower the bar if they choose. However, when the publishers of the Star decided to turn the dissemination of venom and hatred (with a call for armed revolution thrown in for good measure) into a profitable enterprise, as they did by printing this ad today, I am done with them.

I didn’t subscribe to this and don’t have to pay for the privilege of reading it. Please cancel my subscription effective today. I don’t want your newspaper in my driveway tomorrow or at any time in the future. I think you should probably refund the balance of my annual subscription but I will leave that to your judgment since the paper is apparently desperate for revenue. By the way, I would appreciate your printing this letter as a letter to the editor or as a guest column although I guess I won’t know whether you actually do so.