In all the years I have voted in presidential elections, I never have been so concerned over the outcome. I honestly feel all American flags should be lowered to half-staff Jan. 20 to mourn the loss of: democracy as we know it; our dignity in the eyes of other nations; the highly respected office of the presidency; and our intelligence to elect someone so unqualified and so undeserving to be our commander in chief.
God bless what used to be the United States of America!
Liz BuntenCanaan
More Upbeat Than Reported
I disagree with correspondent Tom Blinkhorn’s assessment of a “palpable despondency” filling the Chandler Music Hall as Bill McKibben and Amy Goodman addressed a packed house Saturday evening (“Presidential Protesters Span Nation: McKibben, Journalist Lead Vt. Environmental Speech, Jan. 16).
The speakers were greeted with standing ovations at both their introductions and upon their concluding remarks. There were moments of laughter and hearty applause as the two figures spoke about climate change and the challenges of fair and honest reporting. I believe the audience felt a great deal of gratitude for these courageous individuals who are not afraid to speak the truth in this era of fake news and tweets.
Just because the message is unpleasant doesn’t mean that the recipients left with a feeling of despondency. Rather, my sense is that the audience left feeling validated and empowered.
Dee GishSharon
The Trouble With Trump
I might speak for lots of folks when I say I watched President Obama’s farewell address recently and could not keep from comparing him with Donald Trump. Obama’s clear-eyed, long-term perspective versus the other guy’s continual spew of small-minded vindictiveness — the difference was stark. Obama was great; Trump is greatly wanting.
There’s something wrong with Trump. Something deeper than my disagreement with his policies or personality. I’ve disagreed before and will again with every president on certain issues. I’m talking about Trump’s lack of character — he’s sick in his spirit and soul. The stink starts with his unsavory level of lies but it doesn’t stop there. He has long been acknowledged to be a flip-flop prevaricator. There were yearslong lies about Obama’s legitimacy, lies recently about Russia’s involvement with our election process.
He’s so good at not telling the truth that he has achieved something remarkable in our country, maybe unprecedented. He’s tweeted out lies with so much machine-gun regularity that the fact-finders can’t keep up with him. That creates his speed-pass to disgorge even more lies.
While the truth-finders are busy checking out his most recent set of falsehoods, he swamps them again, and the American public, with a tidal wave of more untruths — everybody gets washed overboard and starts drowning. These tsunamis of falsehoods have battered and bashed some voters into numbness. Dishonesty becomes the sea we tread water in. We get too waterlogged to care what is misinformation and what is truth. That’s the kind of ocean swell tyrants jump on and ride to the shores of dictatorship.
This depressing caricature of an adult is someone who’s making things worse, not better. His punitive “I’m gonna get you back” tweets display a small-minded hooligan. Would you want him in your family? As your dad or brother or son? Would you want to work alongside him in any job that required honesty and accountability? Would he be a dependable neighbor in your time of need?
Trump has lied so long and so loud now that he himself can no longer tell the difference between truth and fiction. To paraphrase actor Henry Fonda in the political drama The Best Man, that fault is a tragedy in a man — in a president, it is a disaster.
Robert Roudebush North Haverhill
In a recent article in The New York Times, personal health columnist Jane Brody addressed the use of cellphones and technology.
She wrote: “The near-universal access to digital technology, starting at ever younger ages, is transforming modern society in ways that can have negative effects on physical and mental health, neurological development and personal relationships, not to mention safety on our roads and sidewalks.” According to the column, “most people now check their phones 150 times per day or every six minutes … and young adults are sending an average of 110 texts per day.” And furthermore, “46 percent of smartphone users now say their devices are something they couldn’t live without.”
She goes on to write about the negative effect on the nervous system as it never shuts down, leaving the user in a constant “fight or flight” mode.
This reminds me of the all the Dartmouth students walking around the Dartmouth campus looking down at their phones. No question these devices are an addiction.
Nancy Parker Hanover