By Editorial Board
-Editorial-
It’s been a politically charged climate for quite a while now. For the past several months, people have been yelling and screaming about who you should vote for and why the other side is wrong.
Opposing protests have become screaming matches and, sadly, some have resorted to violent acts.
News outlets have been dealt with a fair share of hate and threats lobbed at them as well. Some media organizations are vocal about who they support, so it's natural that opposing opinions might no longer want to support them.
Unfortunately, we’ve gotten to the point where society is taking it one step further. On Oct. 29, Gazette 2.0 published a paid advertisement in favor of re-electing President Donald Trump. Some readers were upset about the claims stated in the ad and made their dismay known. While some were respectful, many others were significantly less so, pelting us with nasty comments.
Let’s get one thing straight: that was a PAID ad. It’s not our job to turn down people who want to use their own money to put a message out there. Yes, there are limits to that (violent or crude messages) but you can’t compare that to a political advertisement. If we start turning those down because of a particular candidate, we would be neglecting our job to stay impartial.
It’s sad that we’re still at this point that people can’t disagree without throwing tantrums.
The mere mention of something even potentially in favor or unfavorable of one party and, like a perfectly synchronized group, the hoard of vicious vultures go on full attack with insults and petty threats.
It doesn't seem to matter whether or not the information is correct or not — as long as someone doesn’t agree with it, it’s a free for all to go on the attack.
And let’s not get this twisted — it happens on both sides.
But, ultimately, whether or not either party is right or wrong, we set out to be impartial.
Our news team itself is composed of people on all sides of the aisle. Although that can cause some heated discussions within our own walls, we don’t lean one way or the other when it comes to what we publish.
We believe that, in order for a healthy exchange of dialogue to happen, both sides have to be presented. That’s how it SHOULD be. Being able to disagree and having a respectful debate is a beautiful thing, but fewer and fewer people are willing to do so.
Elections are now over, but that hasn’t quieted the tension. Protests are still going on and people are as angry as ever. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how everything plays out over the next few months.