No balance when the scales are tipped right

Dear Editor,

Your gratuitous effort to "balance the rhetoric" for those on the left after admitting to throwing plenty of red meat to conservatives in past columns rings hollow ("Liberals, I get why you're upset," Sept. 25, Page 14).

Claiming to have many left leaning liberal friends reminded me of those who claim "Some of my best friends are..." Fill in the blank sir.

But most alarming was the unfortunate false equivalency of the murders of George Floyd and Charlie Kirk and ensuing exaggerated responses on both sides. You have ignored the existence of a nuanced middle ground, by the way.

Your claim that the Black Lives Matter organization historically dabbled in antisemitism is proof of your narrow understanding of the organization by painting its purpose and entirety with a few bad actors. Would you deny that Kirk was known to spew racist, misogynistic and anti L.B.G.Q.T rhetoric?

Would you counter that it was justified by having a booth and T-shirt that invited "debate" to " "Prove Me Wrong?"

Was George Floyd (even if a criminal) not entitled to being protected by police rather than slowly snuffed out very publicly under his knee, betraying an oath to uphold the law? Where was Floyd's opportunity to prove his innocence? His case!

Kirk's murderer was an angry and disturbed 22-year-old responding to that rhetoric in a vile act. There is NO equivalency .

Yes, the huge and sometimes unlawful response to Floyd's murder upset the right. But the political pyrotechnic circus posing as a memorial to Kirk was as threatening to those on the left.

Any grace and solemnity offered by Erika Kirk was displaced by the hatred and vitriol of President Trump and his adviser, Stephen Miller. He tarnished Kirk's memory and alleged goal of respecting others' opinions and the fundamental tenet of Christianity itself.

No.... You have not balanced the scales at all. You can't while your thumb weighs heavily right. Your words and opinion only make it worse.

Charlie Kirk would say "Prove Me Wrong." You offer no opportunity for that.

-Barbara Santarelli, North Salem