OPINION: Bring on the questions

Aug. 4—Reader: Greetings Christine,

As a longtime reader of TBC, I want to thank you for the good work that you and your staff do; you provide an essential service for our community which we much appreciate.

It seems that it is important to know what our members of Congress are up to, and we may have various ways to find that out, but I valued the summary that TBC used to provide. Might you explain why such info is no longer provided?

The "Sound Off" column may have encouraged useful dialogue; I am interested in hearing your perspective on why it is no longer offered.

Thanks for your consideration,

— Scott Lecrone

Peterson: Thank you, Scott, for your kind note and for your longtime readership. We work hard around here to provide important news and information to our readers and community.

We no longer have How They Voted, as the man who produced it each week for newspapers across the country retired! The last I knew, he was not able to find a buyer for his service. However, I know it was valuable. I will check with him again and see if he found someone else to do it. Then we might be able to use that.

Now, Sound Off! I would love to do Sound Off every week. It absolutely encourages useful dialogue, and provides the community more insight into how newspapers work and why we do what we do. However, here's the problem: Letters and inquiries had trickled to nearly nothing. I was receiving the same questions (slight variations, but the same points) from the same people over and over!

So Scott, let's hope your inquiry sparks some new questions. If I could get some variety, and some different people writing to Sound Off, I am in favor of doing it!

----Reader: Well, that was about the most woke editorial page (July 17) I've seen in a long time. As much as I hate your page, this one takes the cake.

— Jerry Todd

Is this your idea of Jesus' "wokeness?"

How far can you push someone before they have had enough of rampant wokeness and completely revolt? The silent majority is showing they've had enough. https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/woke-culture-pushed-mom-too-far

— Jerry Todd

Peterson: You like to write about the word "woke" a lot, don't you, Jerry?

Here's the good 'ol Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of the word: "Aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues especially of racial and social injustice."

Oxford English Dictionary says: "woke, adjective: Originally: well-informed, up-to-date. Now chiefly: alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice; frequently in stay woke."

And Associated Press Stylebook says: "A slang term that originally described enlightenment or awakening about issues of racial and other forms of social justice. Some people and groups, especially conservatives, now use it in a derogatory sense implying what they see as overreactions. Avoid using the term other than in direct quotations; enclose in quotation marks when used."

Seems simple. But it's not.

I found tons of variations on the meaning of "woke" and its history with a simple Google search.

Now we know that increasingly "woke" is used by some to describe policies, choices or politics that the user deems too liberal or too progressive, or simply not conservative.

So I guess, Jerry, you're saying the July 17 Opinion page was too liberal. That page contained: "McCarthy appeases radicals again" by Bloomberg opinion columnist Jonathan Bernstein; a political cartoon about Ukraine wanting to be part of NATO; a Community Voices piece by local pastor Angelo Frazier titled "Support the heroic people of Ukraine," and a Community Voices piece by local retired educator David Keranan titled "When I will fly the flag."

I have a feeling the piece you had the most issue with was the last one, where Keranen writes: "Considering the American flag, I will proudly fly it when" and then lays out several liberal policies and stances.

My take: Nobody is going to like every opinion piece, especially when an opposite point of view is expressed on the same topic within a few days!

And in this case, several readers penned letters in response — including a prominent attorney who said in 50 years he'd never written a letter to the editor — politely, eloquently and strongly disagreeing with Keranen.

That's what an Opinion page does: It gives people a town square for debate.

I had a delightful conversation with a longtime reader on Thursday. She talked about loving her local newspaper, even as she said she isn't interested in every story or opinion piece. But she cheerfully said she then just moves on to the next story.

Sounds like a healthy perspective to me!

Executive Editor Christine L. Peterson answers your questions and takes your complaints about The Californian's news coverage in this feedback forum. Questions may be edited for space and clarity. To offer your input by phone, call 661-395-7649 and leave your comments in a voicemail message or email us at soundoff@bakersfield.com. Please include your name and phone number; your phone number won't be published.