Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 7, 1993 TAG: 9301070437
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
OPPONENTS, YES; ENEMIES, NO
THIS LETTER is not addressed to the newspaper, but to my fellow writers of letters to the editor. Over the years you have entertained, challenged and sometimes raised my blood pressure, and I am sure that you will continue to do all three. But recently I have detected a disturbing trend toward rhetorical excess. This is a plea for rhetorical self-restraint.Surely there is no higher calling in our culture than fighting evil. And when someone attacks one of our cherished beliefs about politics, religion, smoking in public, gun control, economics or whatever, we rally to the defense of right.
But all too often we attribute evil motives to the opposition or see the devil himself behind it all. Once we have demonized the "enemy," we are free to go all out, in a no-holds-barred fight for righteousness. There is great ego satisfaction in fighting evil, but rhetorical excesses do not win converts; they only contribute toward division.
It takes only a quick look around the world to see the horrors that result when people are polarized around some issue. Bosnia, Sri Lanka, India, Northern Ireland, Israel - the list is long and terrible to contemplate.
The gradual development of a polarized situation can easily go unnoticed until it is too late. The time for healing is before we have created an enemy where there was only an opponent.
In the early days of our nation, Native American and European were the two cultures on this continent. Slavery effectively blocked the importation of an African culture, and European technology overwhelmed the native culture with devastating results. Today, we are a multicultural society and have much to learn about how to make it work. We must not repeat the tragic mistakes of the past.
Here is my challenge to letter-writers: Can we write persuasively but with respect for those who see things differently? I sincerely hope so. E. JACQUES MILLER ROANOKE