It’s integrity, not censorship

To the Editor:

A number of letters have recently implored you to not publish content that spreads dangerous misinformation. The response to that by the anti-vaxxers is that this would be a form of censorship.

However, there’s a huge difference between opinions and facts. If someone says, “Joe Biden is a terrible president,” that’s clearly an opinion which we can debate. But when people write letters claiming that Covid vaccines cause AIDS, or that hundreds of athletes in the prime of their lives have died shortly after receiving the vaccine, those are outright falsehoods that shouldn’t be promoted, especially with over 900,000 (and rising) Covid deaths in our country.

Put another way, suppose that I write a letter that confidently states that the attacks on 9/11 were inside jobs conducted by our military, all of the moon landings were hoaxes, and the Holocaust never happened, would you print that? Could I reasonably claim censorship if you didn’t?

There are dozens of websites devoted to each of those conspiracy theories, and each site claims to have proof, such as official documents, eyewitness accounts, and sworn testimony. It wouldn’t be censorship to refuse to print such a letter. It would be journalistic integrity. Please use the same good judgment on this important issue.

Rick Schluter

Sparta