Would Patrick Henry avoid wearing mask?
Since we've been told numerous times by medical experts on major news services that wearing a mask and social distancing prevent us from sneezing, coughing or breathing droplets into the air that might infect others with covid-19, it would appear that those who refuse to do so are extremely selfish, even cruel.
But when we realize those people do not listen to or read major news sources, having been told by the president that those sources offer "fake news" and are "the enemy of the people," we can assume that they are not selfish or cruel, but deluded.
What is odd about them, however, is their insistence on seeing themselves as patriotic heroes, upholding "liberty" and "freedom" in the manner of Patrick Henry,
I was not around when Patrick Henry said, "Give me liberty or give me death," but I was alive during World War II and distinctly remember the Four Freedoms our servicemen fought and died for. Freedom to go among crowds maskless and breathe droplets into the air in the paths of fellow citizens was not one of the four.
Duane Carr
Fayetteville
Capitalizing some races not impartial approach
The statement of core values on Page 2 of the daily paper indicates impartiality is a key factor in reporting the news. It states in part "Impartiality means reporting, editing, and delivering the news honestly, fairly, objectively, and without personal opinion or
bias."
It appears the Democrat-Gazette has decided to follow the form book of The Associated Press when deciding to capitalize minority groups, but not those identified as white when identifying race.
In my many years of editing reports, I have never seen such a blatant misuse of form. We should uniformly use lower case or capital letters, but not discriminate according to skin color. This switch to follow the AP form book does not appear to be impartial or without bias. Perhaps the statement of core values needs to be changed to reflect the new personal opinion and bias towards white people by the Democrat-Gazette.
Paul Wingate
Bella Vista