Iād agree with recent criticisms that your
paper has taken a turn toward political bandwagoning. It mirrors
most of the endless stream of imploring letters from the Sierra
Club/Wilderness Society/Audubon Society/Nature Conservancy/Public
Land Trust/Trust to Save the Grand Canyon or Silvery Minnow or
Spotted Perch, etc., that find their way to my door every week. I
agree with these viewpoints (to a large extent), and with the sense
of urgency with which they invoke donations, and I give money to
these causes when I can.
However, this reporting is too
much like the narrow, stuffy, scared reporting that grows out of
boardroom discussions, from the head-heavy, weak-bodied, overweight
insecurity and fear that drive the actions of most of our country.
We live in a country crippled by fear, and therein lies our largest
obstacle. Weāre afraid of our neighbors, of our children, of
ourselves. It doesnāt motivate or encourage; itās not
creative or confident or inspired. It is tired and reactionary and
hollow.
Your paper once mirrored some of the rugged
newness that the Western landscape inspires. It motivated by
example, and thereby offered hope. It embodied a different way of
management, the possibility of choosing a different path than that
of the East. It talked about the face of the rural West, the face
of ingenuity and creativity, of local solutions, of independence,
of self-sufficiency, of land and community management. It once was
a Western paper.
There are still examples of that
reporting, and I seek them out in every issue. However, they are
buried behind pictures of Wal-Mart and Supreme Court justices. The
fact that your new paper received raving ovations from a board of
directors should make you even more worried. Ed Abbey said
something along the following: āI can be pretty dumb by myself, but
for true stupidity it takes a board of directors.ā
Mike Rankin
Albuquerque, New Mexico
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Inspire us, don’t scare us.
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