I love the subtitle of HCN, “The paper for people who
care about the West.” I care about the West. I also care a great
deal about the dialogue of people who care about the West. HCN is
an important part of that dialogue, but I wish I could say I am
comfortable with what you are currently doing.
To be
candid, I agree with the plainly advertised politics of HCN, but
not the current emotional, unbalanced presentation of the issues. I
was disturbed further this week to see how you paternalistically
discounted the comments of some of your “conservative readers.”
There are two sides to every issue, and anyone of your experience
and intelligence knows that nothing good gets accomplished in the
highly charged environment of the New West without paying respect
to the voices of all the people who care about the West, not just
the voices of people who care about it the way you think they
should.
I hope you will consider T.S. Eliot’s
warning, “The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the
right deed for the wrong reason.” By encouraging people to react to
the complex problems of the West, rather than to thoughtfully
consider them, I think you are asking them to do the right thing
for the wrong reason.
Kris
Chandler
Orem, Utah
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Respect the people who care about the West.
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