Doyle McClure, Colfax

Moscow-Pullman Daily News 9/3/11

Comparisons of Joshua Yeidel’s tightly crafted letter “Superficial editorial” (about 3 column inches) and Henry Johnston’s flat-earth rant, “An ‘asinine exercise in pure stupidity’ ” (about 20 column inches), on the Aug. 30 Daily News Opinion page, clearly show that “less can be more.” Though unintended, the latter also clearly demonstrates an “asinine exercise in pure stupidity.”

Johnston evidently fails to understand that nonviolent civic protest is a time-honored exercise of American democratic principles. Apparently he also fails to understand, or otherwise willfully ignores, the likely catastrophic consequences of global warming, the major contribution from use of fossil fuels as is accepted by an overwhelming majority of scientists, and the fact that U.S.-imports of the highly polluting tar-sands crude is a major factor underlying its Canadian production. Disruptive as the highway transport of megaloads may be, these adverse consequences pale in comparison to those of the massive tar-sands oil production.

Free expression of diverse opinions is, of course, also a time-honored expression of American democratic principles. However, one might well question the judgment of the Daily News opinion editor for giving Johnston an extensive forum for his exercise in pure stupidity.