Article shows why it’s
tough to believe journalists
Regarding the Toronto Globe and Mail article about Rowan County reprinted in Sunday’s Insight section:
I read the “article” by Sonia Verma and wondered how much research she did to arrive at her ridiculous claims.
I do NOT believe that Rowan County had the highest percentage of millionaires in the country nor that it has been the most affected by the recession. There is information on the Internet showing millionaire households throughout the country, and the percentages are much higher than 31 divided by the county census. The economic decline due to the hollowing and death of the industrial sector (textiles around here) has occurred on a more devastating scale in many areas of the United States, particularly in the Midwest.
Reading such a weak and incredible attempt at informing the public struck me as rather another example of cheapness and the lack of any respect for the truth. Those whose reading is limited to bits of the printed word and lots of TV viewing may very well cite this execrable article as “fact,” whereas it is simply a text they have read without asking themselves whether it is true or not. What should I think, after reading “Tough Times,” of the meaning of articles I read in this, or any other newspaper?
— Richard Nash Creel
Salisbury
Immigration issues ignored
The My Turn article “Welcoming the strangers among us” by Mark Sells is true in some instances but fails to address the glaring issues surrounding immigration. Some estimate the number of people in this country illegally may be as high as 20 million. The people the writer is speaking to are those who came to the country legally over the years, not illegally. It is the illegal immigration that must be addressed, or we shall lose any semblance of the recognition of our culture or the laws that are supposed protect all of us.
The government over the years has not followed the law — I suspect because politicians, by supporting illegal immigration, hope to garner the votes of these people, creating yet another dependent group. It should not be the government aiding the illegal community at the expense of the individual. When the rights of one person are diminished by government taking from one and giving to another, the rights of every person are diminished.
I know of no other country or people more benevolent than Americans. Christian charity is different from government welfare in that we, individually, have the right to give or not to give as we choose. But with government, we have no choice nor do we have a say as to who will benefit. Welfare entitlements have not worked. There are just as many people today on welfare as there were in the ’60s. We have second and third generations on welfare, and it has become a way of life for some of us. I find nothing Christian in helping those who can and should help themselves. There is an answer to illegal immigration if the politicians are not afraid to address it. So far, there has been too much heat and not enough light on the subject.
— Richard Roberts
Kannapolis