LETTER

 

-------  Letters and fake news

 

       I usually find the Bulletin's Letters to the Editor interesting and stimulating -- but sometimes they're eye-rolling.  I feel I now know many of the people who write in. Sometimes the letters are great -- protecting our environment and decrying Aylmer's growing sprawl, the Lucy Faris library saga, the nuclear dump upstream, or even debates about socialism -- but I was surprised by some of the ignorance expressed, say, in the face of Black Lives Matter protests (do we need white people telling us there isn’t racism in Canada?).

       A recent Bulletin included a letter from an outfit called "L'Equipe Autonomiste" (signed by Louis Chandonnet and  Stéphan Pouleur). What a retro-group! I am surprised the Bulletin published such rhetoric and old-fashioned ideas.  Male-rights activists have the right to free speech, as anyone else, but providing a platform for sexist ideas like ‘women trick men by stopping birth control’ or homophobic and heteronormative ideas like “children need a mother and a father” is unfair to single mothers and fathers, LGBTQ+ families, and children.  The letter contained no scientific evidence for their claims of damage to children growing up in non-traditional families.

       There are discussions today about what it means to “be a man”, about gender and masculinity,  nature versus nurture.  Let's hear these and how to improve the school experience for boys.  Has anyone else heard of their “International Men’s Day”?  It might be a good idea, if it raised some of these modern notions about families and schooling, but not as one more exercise in victimhood and blaming.

       I urge the Bulletin not to be a platform for outdated concepts and uninformed beliefs -- or for hatred under the guise of "presenting perspectives".  That’s bad journalism and amounts to fake news.  

Marjorie Reed

Aylmer