Every once in a while, readers still confuse The Reminder’s old “letters to the editor” policy with our less-old policy.
Our old policy let readers sign a letter with an alias, often “Concerned Citizen,” though we always required the identity of the writer for our own records.
That policy existed until 2008ish, by which time it had become outdated and uncommon in the newspaper industry. So we changed it.
With that, we no longer let letter writers “hide behind” aliases, a criticism we heard from time to time.
The down side is that I still occasionally receive a letter to the editor that makes excellent points but whose author either refuses to have his or her name published or who never provides said name in the first place.
Take “Anonymoose Amy.” This week, she (?) sent me a well-written, topical letter on last week’s Local Angle, which was entitled “Memo to province: We want jobs, not parks.”
Amy was critical of both myself and my column, and I loved what she had to say. As I tell people, none of the opinions appearing on this page are above reproach.
Given that Amy did not provide a legitimate home address, I emailed her at what appeared to be a fake email address. I received no response.
I then had our secretary call the cell number Amy provided, but it was a fake.
I don’t normally do this, but I believe that what Amy had to say was important. And since the only person she was critical of was me, I see no harm in publishing her letter. Here it is:
“Jonathon Naylor’s opinion that ‘we want jobs, not parks’ was an irresponsible piece of writing. Obviously swayed by the mighty dollar, he seems to not understand the crucial importance of having a balanced approach to environment and economy.
“Decisions to halt development are based on many things: water tables, animal migration routes, endangered species, sacred land but most important, the location of our drinking water in terms of industrial development. The statement, ‘Pardon my language, but how many damn parks does Northern Manitoba need?’ is a testament to the obvious bubble this man is living in.
“My suggestion to him, good journalism is more than opinions, do some research and figure out why some areas are protected. Don’t just assume. The writing is very biased and concerns many citizens that regard science and human health as more important that industrial development. One should not spread false information to a mass of readers that do not understand the consequences of blind development.
“The bubble that Mr. Naylor lives in is not a true representation of reality. The process of vetting the areas for development is for human safety, for our drinking water, for our children.
“So please Mr. Naylor, quit using profanity, a good writer doesn’t need to: and stop skewing facts to appease your insecurities. Some of us in the area understand that the long arduous process of ensuring development will not poison our lives is important.
“To the people of the area, please stop and think before you blindly support development, let the agencies do their job and properly vet the area so we do not end up like Lynn Lake or Sherridon.
“You should ask those people how they like their poison lake, you should look at the water tables and see how that lake is attached to 5,000 more. Stop and use common sense, don’t be so quick to promote something when you don’t understand the consequence.
“The blind leading the blind is dangerous, do some research before you print your skewed reports.”
Thank you, Anonymoose Amy. You made me think and I hope your letter does the same for our readers.
Local Angle is published on Fridays.
