In the August 8, 2024, edition of the Chilkat Valley News, we printed a letter to the editor about a KHNS program on the Lutak Dock that referred to Richard Clement as a mining promoter. This was inappropriate.
I should have read the letter more carefully and thought about how that phrase and, really, name-calling in general, detracts from the constructive dialogue we’re trying to foster in that section of the paper.
I’ve been thinking about how to address this all week and one of the things I keep coming back to is how often public discourse devolves into personal attacks and vitriol. When I was a teenager, my grandfather and I read the Federalist Papers together and one of the first things I remember him pointing out was how the authors set themselves apart by addressing the substance of each other’s ideas and arguments, rather than personalizing their disagreements with each other or resorting to character assassination.
I will work to reflect those ideals in the future and I ask and encourage all of you to help me by doing the same when you send in your letters.
Rashah McChesney, Owner & Editor of the Chilkat Valley News