The real challenge is still community

Published 6:00 am Wednesday, July 14, 2004

One of our points was, there’s enough incivility around these days that it can’t be described as a uniquely “liberal” or “Bainbridge” phenomenon. On cue, we received this email correspondence from a gentleman named Danny in Texas, responding to reports of rude treatment of a “Veteran for Bush” in the Grand Old Fourth parade:

“You’re probably right about being the only newspaper that cares about Bainbridge Island. And from what I’ve just read about your citizens, you’re a [expletive] cesspool of

communist [expletives]. You can bet your stinking [expletive] that I’ll never bring my money to your anti-American town. [EXPLETIVE] YOU.”

That was among the comments from off-islanders, several of them profane and all condemning the Bainbridge Island community as a whole for the actions of a few in what shall hereafter be referred to as The Incident.

Let us say that we reject any suggestion that The Incident speaks to the general caliber of the island populace – Left or Right – and as always, our local readers are somewhat more adept at exploring the nuances of political thought and action in this community. Moreover, as others have pointed out,

veterans who marched elsewhere in the parade were treated with respect and dignity appropriate to their service. A bunch of [expletive] [expletives], we aren’t.

Still, our expressed view that given the tension of the times,

a flare-up over partisan parade statements was predictable

was not universally embraced, and drew the reproof of

numerous readers who chided us for countenancing a rude and boorish display. If failure to denounce such antics equals implicit approval, then we stand reproved. Readers like Paul Soderlund are entirely right to insist that we strive for a

higher common denominator.

The responses didn’t stop there; what follows on the next three pages is perhaps the most dynamic display of reader opinion this editor has ever had the privilege to present. We’re intrigued by the arc of the views (which represent perhaps two-thirds of the letters received; more will appear Saturday), from the “official” Chamber of Commerce spin, to related debate over the “Fahrenheit 9/11” film, to a few sound thrashings of the editor, to the different perspectives of folks at both ends of The Incident, and finally, several meditations on the need for more civil discourse across the political spectrum.

With the latter, we couldn’t agree more. On television,

political roundtables often look like shouting matches; “hot talk” radio programmers seem to hire the most politically extreme hosts they can find, personalities who stifle discourse by attracting sycophants and repelling everyone else. Even the vice president of the United States uses the coarsest of insults to rebuke a rival on the Senate floor – and then is quoted by a respondent in the Review’s Street Talk. Sigh.

Which brings us back to Bainbridge Island. A couple of years ago in this space, sometime after the 9/11 attacks,

we suggested that in the uncertainty of the times, the real

challenge would be keeping our community together even as our individual political responses varied dramatically. However you view what transpired at our Grand Old Fourth parade, it underscores the gravity of that challenge.

Bainbridge Island is up to the task, if the collective wisdom of this newspaper’s readership is any measure.

Except maybe for Danny; he’s welcome to stay in Texas.