Arnold Letter Is Insulting

The Davisite received this letter from the author on 1/8. It responds to a letter sent to the enterprise by Eric Gudz.  The author submitted the reply to Gudz to the Enterprise on 12/26 but the Davis Enterprise is refusing to print it. The idea that the "community conversation has moved on," as the Enterprise editor states is an obvious after the fact excuse since the author's letter was submitted after the Gudz letter appeared on line, but BEFORE the Gudz letter appeared in the print edition of the Enterprise on 12/27. The author has never previously submitted a letter to the Davis Enterprise.

The author provided this email from the Enterprise:

Good morning Carey Ann,

 

With the election season upon us, we're inundated with campaign letters, and we really don't have room for the "What Will Arnold said" controversy anymore. I appreciate that you have strong feelings on the matter, but the community conversation has moved on, and we have to use our space for more relevant discussions.

 

Best,

 

————

Sebastian Onate

Editor

The Davis Enterprise

To the Editor of the Davis Enterprise,

The other day I read a very disturbing letter signed by Eric Gudz in the Enterprise. I found it insulting and insensitive. I am not one to get involved politically, but this got personal for me. I have spent much of my life working creatively with people with perceived disabilities, both physical and mental. People’s mental and physical states in general are fragile – we all are sensitive to insult and attack.

How is it that it is okay to do this in the ‘political’ arena? How is it that many rules of human decency and etiquette are tossed out the window for the sake of ‘politics’? Replaced with smearing of genuinely concerned community members, motivated by truth and transparency. How is pointing out our city’s copious areas of opportunity for improvement worthy of attacking people’s mental states?

“I wish that they would just seek help and heal,” is really not an okay way to speak to anyone, especially publicly. When and for what people seek help is a very individual and private decision. Healing is also very personal. To use this as a means of attack on people is a very low blow. Especially at a time when many are suffering from mental illness for a myriad of reasons. We must be sensitive to one another in our quest for transparency, truth and open governing.

To condescendingly pretend to feel sorry and tune out the voices of our community, regardless of mental wellness, and to refer to their words as “thinly veiled nonsense,” is rude at best. I wish for our Davis citizenry to move forward in fair, honest and civil discourse. Of course things get heated sometimes, such it is in human democracy. When we fall to the pits of insulting and attacking people who come forward to speak their concerns, we have stepped into sad times. It is important that we all look out for each other, and allow everyone’s voice to be heard without fear of verbal defamation, regardless of mental wellness. Lastly, using mental illness disparagingly additionally can discourage people from seeking help.

Carey Ann Hunt