As the battle between the liberal progressives and the conservatives continues in our town, the latest round has centered around the Speakout section of the Phoenix, and while I agree and sympathize with Sue Donovan and Erich Haselhurst regarding their anger with the recent anonymous attack against them in Speakout, I strongly disagree with those who have called for the Phoenix to either censor comments or do away with Speakout completely.

For starters, I’m a strong believer in freedom of speech, and while the anonymous attack on Sue and Erich was cowardly, the media has to walk a fine line between allowing freedom of speech and acting as a censor. Also, in my many years reading and contributing to the Phoenix, I have found you must learn to take the anonymous comments in Speakout with a grain of salt, and sometimes ignore them completely.

If someone feels so strongly about their ideas and convictions, at least have the courage and backbone to include your name and address, or most rational and intelligent people will simply dismiss your comments as useless cowardly attacks similar to those you find on the internet left by posters with obviously bogus screen names. In my opinion, if you need to hide behind the cloak of anonymity in order to make your point, you don’t even have a valid argument to begin with.

In addition, I actually find the Speakout section to be rather entertaining, ranking right up there with the weekly police report, with the neverending stories of people complaining of raccoons getting in their trash, disputes between neighbors over blowing leaves and grass onto each other’s property, and other silliness that makes our town an interesting place.

So please, Bristol Phoenix, do not remove the Speakout section from your newspaper, as we all need a bit of levity in these crazy times we’re living in.

Mike Proto
Bristol