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March 28, 2024

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Letter: Protect speech consistently

The Columbian
Published: July 23, 2015, 5:00pm

Boy, oh, boy. Arrogance and hypocrisy combined. Never thought I’d see the day a newspaper, much less The Columbian, would preach against the First Amendment freedom of speech, the lifeblood of journalism, as in the July 11 editorial “Cheers & Jeers: Local Confederate flag must go.” I thought it was settled law that reprehensible actions against our national flag (a symbol) such as treading upon, disfiguring, soaking in urine, disreputable oration, etc., are protected “speech,” yet The Columbian objects to a historical flag (symbol) displayed by a private organization from a flagpole on private property south of Ridgefield. My goodness, the “flag flies within view of Interstate 5,” la-de-dah. I was blindsided by The Columbian’s chameleon stance regarding freedom of speech; breathtaking and, some say, characteristic.

Also a surprise was the strong descriptive statement alleging sanitation and rewriting of history, a subject historians have debated continuously and with elusive or conflicting conclusions for decades. The editorial’s allegations are not factual but editorial opinion, is this not so?

Paul Noel

Ridgefield

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