Latest news with #civilDiscourse
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Readers sound off on differing views, attacks on Medicaid and white South Africans
Plainview, L.I.: I was pleasantly surprised and mildly encouraged by the lead letter in Voice of the People on Tuesday, 'Trump and Pope Leo will lead together in faith.' That you published a letter from someone who believes, and would dare to voice their opinion, that President Trump could say or do anything good was a nice surprise. But alas, my encouragement was short-lived. While reading the next four letters, it was clear to me why I stopped reading letters on a regular basis. Nothing has changed. You continue to show your true colors of being part of the mainstream media, a mouthpiece that caters to the masses of a deep-blue state with deep-blue biases. I wonder why that is? Could it be a fear of being attacked as (gasp!) a Trump supporter who might be doing something good for America? Or maybe you just don't want to alienate your base. Only you can answer that. Am I surprised? I suppose not. I'm reasonably sure that if it were Joe Biden, Barack Obama or anyone else with a 'D' next to their name, you and most of your readers would jump on the bandwagon and proclaim what a great and wonderful job they were/are doing. When did we cease being a people that welcomed constructive, civil discourse and debate and become one that disrespects those who have differing opinions? I'll tell you. It's when we chose to label ourselves hyphen-Americans instead of just Americans. It's when we stopped caring about the other person and, I'm not sorry to say, their equally valid point of view. John D. Cilento Brooklyn: I write in response to the staggeringly willful ignorance of Voicer Robert A. Casper's letter about Trump and the pope. Trump is 'a very Christian president'? 'Trump was effective in moral America'? The man who cheated on all three wives? The man with dozens of sexual assault cases filed against him? He's allied with the pope morally? The man who said he has never asked God for forgiveness in his 78 sin-filled years? No, sir, the joke's on you and everyone who thinks like you. F. Sweeney Brooklyn: Why do you keep reporting that Trump's Big Beautiful Bill will eliminate taxes on Social Security? This is false and should be corrected. Matthew Cavallino Manhattan: After repeating his claim to protect Medicaid, the most corrupt president this United States has ever seen decided he needed to pay back the donors who got him elected. What better tool to use than the government — and your money — to give them all generous tax breaks. Forget about all those members of the working class that will lose this FDR-created safety net while he nonchalantly saddles taxpayers with the cost of a third Air Force One. Remember that self-funded savings plan we all were required to participate in, aka Social Security? Keep your eyes on the chopping block for that! Shame on him for starving the food-challenged victims in Sudan. I guess it's just a warmup for what he's got in mind for us as he 'makes America great again.' Chris Santoro Hartsdale, N.Y.: It looks like the president and his party need to weed out needy Medicaid recipients. I have a couple of ideas. First, let's have these sick and/or disabled folks be required to have a work component before they receive benefits. Being sick or physically compromised shouldn't exempt you from working for your benefits! Then, how about we require recipients to reapply for their benefits, let's say twice a year. Hey, they can just take time off from the work they need to put in to travel 50-100 miles in some cases to make their applications. I'd never be the one to say that regulations like this are solely to discourage them or make it extremely difficult so they'll just give up and go away. But if they'd do that, we could give our wealthiest 2% their tax cuts. Norman E. Gaines Jr. Manhattan: So, Trump posted a doctored video in which he appears to slam Bruce Springsteen with a golf ball, knocking him to the floor. Is he 12? How is it possible that a man who grew up a trust-fund baby in New York (Queens) can be so utterly lacking in class, sophistication, street smarts or savvy? I just don't get it. Can't wait to hear the giggles and guffaws coming from those at Fox News who, while showcasing their customary manufactured outrage, lost their minds over James Comey's '8647,' calling it 'a threat.' As always, their credibility is nonexistent, but their hypocrisy rates an A+. Anne Stockton Manhattan: To Voicer Dennis Middlebrooks: Thank you for your response to the unconscionable wrongful death settlement awarding millions in taxpayer money to someone who broke the law on Jan. 6 by storming the House chamber. I was livid when I read of the settlement and glad that you expressed our mutual anger. I know there are more people out there who feel the same. Where are their voices? Minette Gorelik Astoria: How can you call yourselves journalists when you spout about the 'still-privileged white community' in South Africa ('Don zaps S. Africa prez,' May 22)? How are people privileged when South Africa's racist Black Economic Empowerment laws effectively shut whites out of jobs, public programs, higher education and pretty much everything else? Everything from employment to higher education to sports teams has to reflect the demographics of the country (80% Black) regardless of qualifications, ability or merit. The claims of genocide are not unfounded. Why else do people in South Africa live behind walls barricaded with electrified barbed wire and panic buttons in their homes? Some of those people have elected to flee to America. Under such duress, that's what refugees do. Bradley Morris Melbourne, Australia: Trump's false attack on South Africa seems to be based on a video of people calling for attacks on white farmers. If a video is the basis for condemning a country, what do the videos of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building say about the U.S.? Another poor treatment of a country's leader. Dennis Fitzgerald East Hartford, Conn.: To Voicer Leonard Marshall: The Mexican tall ship never intended to go under the Brooklyn Bridge. The ship lost power and the strong current of the Hudson River made it drift toward the bridge and strike it before the ship could be stopped by tugboats. Jim Miller West Hempstead, L.I.: Since no other country wants to take the Palestinian civilians in Gaza, I suggest that Israel build on its land a five-mile fenced-in area about a mile away from the Gaza Strip. Have everyone who is willing go through security and be searched to make sure there are no weapons or explosives on them. Transport them to this temporary area with portable tents for temporary housing. Any pets or animals will be tagged and also have a temporary area where they will be taken care of, along with any excessive items that are wanted but not needed, which will also be tagged and relocated. Anyone who does not go will be assumed to be Hamas militants and will be dealt with accordingly. Everyone in this sheltered area will be provided for all their needs. I believe you will get assistance from many countries and volunteers for this humanitarian act. Frank Feeley Brooklyn: I would like to know which, if any, of our mayoral contenders are in favor of making our streets and sidewalks free of the menace to pedestrians caused by bikes, scooters and e-bikes operated with impunity. Which of our contenders will not be taking contributions from the app corporations in return for continuing the laissez-faire policies currently in play and for providing charging stations that only encourage the proliferation of this chaos? When will taxpaying pedestrians be put before the convenience of quick food deliveries and the belief held by many that laws do not apply to them? Ed Temple
Jordan Times
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Jordan Times
Lessons on civil discourse
At the peak of campus unrest over the war in Gaza, I was asked to address a conference on 'How to Conduct Civil Discourse.' I relished this opportunity because the topic was (and remains) timely and necessary. We live in a deeply toxic environment in which the political and cultural gaps separating us appear unbridgeable. In our foreign relations, congressional debates, communities, and families, people on opposite sides of issues often seem more interested in scoring points than in reaching understanding. In preparing my remarks, I reflected on four important lessons I learned from people who've mattered in my life. In my teens, I was a bit of a precocious know-it-all. I loved ideas and a good argument. When I'd be arguing with someone she'd say: 'You didn't listen to a word they said. You were on the edge of your seat waiting to talk and not hearing what they were saying. If you don't listen to them, they won't hear you. Because you're talking at them and not with them.' She'd also say, 'Don't be wrong at the top of your voice.' Speaking loudly may feel good, but instead of opening ears, it shuts down conversation. Early in my career, my wife Eileen would come to my speeches and sit in the back of the room where I could see her. I was young and prone to using incendiary language. When I'd step over the line, Eileen would wince. She made clear that, while I might think such language had shock value, it was at best a distraction, and at worst a turnoff, to many in the audience. In trying to convey the pain of a much beleaguered people, I had the responsibility of speaking to people they'd never get to address. I had to respect the audience so they'd hear my message. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the applications of these simple lessons in listening and civil discourse were evident. Serving on a Council on Foreign Relations taskforce on public diplomacy exploring how to relate to the Arab World, I had colleagues who proposed ideas ranging from bombing Iraq to lecturing them on democracy. Meanwhile, my brother John and I were conducting two polls for foundations in the Arab World: one to examine Arabs' values and concerns, the other to measure Arabs' attitudes about America. We found that the principal concerns of most Arabs were their families and their futures. They wanted good jobs, quality health care, educational opportunities for their children, and safe and secure communities. Contrary to widely held American views, Arabs liked the US, our people, educational system, products, culture and values. What they didn't like was how America treated them. These results helped inform my taskforce discussions, and prepared me for meetings with Bush administration officials. When I had the opportunity to meet with each of Bush's Undersecretaries for Public Diplomacy, I suggested that in traveling to Arab countries they shouldn't begin by lecturing. Instead, I advised them to ask questions and listen; 'Don't presume you know what they're thinking or what they want to hear from you.' Around this same time, I was invited by the UAE's Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayd to meet with several ministers from Gulf countries to discuss healing the divide between their region and America. They were critical of US efforts at engagement and had various ideas about how to improve their image with Americans. Sheikh Abdullah listened and understood what many did not: Americans didn't understand Arabs and Arabs didn't understand Americans. Reflecting on both sides' failed attempts at public diplomacy, he noted, 'In the end, we Arabs will never be able to help Americans understand us unless we understand them first. Similarly, Americans will never succeed in their efforts to communicate to us who they are unless they take the time to know us first.' That simple lesson must undergird any effort at civil discourse. Where differences exist, the prerequisite for real communication is understanding the needs and concerns of the 'other.' The lessons are simple: listen before you speak, speak softly and avoid harsh rhetoric, respect your audience, and try to speak to their concerns in order to open their minds to hearing you. The writer is president of the Washington-based Arab American Institute
