This is in response to the call made by Dr. Christopher Williams ("Letter writer generates fear
…6/19) for observing "basic rules of decency let alone rational discourse" in writing letters
to a leading paper which has won many awards in its long service to us and our neighbors.
Dr. Williams has rightly stressed two important aspects about the way we conduct a discussion not only in
this case but in general across the public forums in our land. One is the attaching of labels like
liberal, rightest, leftist, communist, fascist and so on. The other is personally directing them to
those engaged in the discussion. While I grant as one versed in law that these are certainly compatible
with the right of free
speech, there is such as a thing as conducting a decent discourse. As for myself I have been influenced
from my student days by a pacifist known as Mohandas Gandhi. One of his main contributions in public
life is to set an example to us of how to conduct a dialogue with an adversary. You can find them in his
speeches and writings. He told us to love the British and deal with them as your own, but actively
oppose their unjust policies by peacefully not cooperating with them. He said you don’t bring down your
opponent to his knees – he never used the word enemy in his life – but to his senses. You do that by
setting the example of your own of how he should act.
What sort of label would one attach to a man like that?
V. N. Krishnan
Bowling Green