To the editor:

The message in the Bulletin of Jan. 7 from Mr. David Kendall was troubling on so many fronts.

First, it was shocking that he says there is a group of people (the collective “us” that he refers to) that “trusts the TDB to accept and publish only those items that” are acceptable to himself and his ilk. He then goes on to say that comments of another Polk County citizen are not “worthy” of publication. Who makes him the arbiter of what is worthy and what is not?

Given what we just witnessed outside of Paris, my guess is that Mr. Kendall wishes he could take back his comments.

Why is it that Neo-Liberals/so-called Progressives spend so much of their time trying to squelch the expression of differing opinions? When did they begin to believe that only their philosophy or their opinions are worthy of consideration and open to robust dialogue?

What also is concerning is that someone in Polk County could be so grossly ignorant that he has no understanding of the very basis of our nation and society, such that he would call for banning or censoring what offends him; he apparently doesn’t see the irony in his own statement.

Why do so many on the left have such totalitarian tendencies with such a strong desire to shut down debate?

Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis so eloquently said, “If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the process of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.”

Mr. Kendall is certainly no Charlie Hebdo!

Cynthia Breedlove
Tryon