Uncivil civility

The latest letter-to-the-editor alleging that Loren Martell has been incivil has made the Trib. It is the third of a series from women who all have been League of Women Voters types who have been friends and allies for twenty years.

All these women claim to have sat through school board sessions in which Loren was hostile toward the School Board. I can’t say I’ve ever seen Loren raise his voice but I’ve only watched him a couple times. I suspect these writers are all confused about what incivility involves. Criticism is not uncivil. Perseverance is not uncivil. Loren is both

In my opinion hiding public data is uncivil as are shutting off public discussions and spreading lies. So is character assassination. I think all these critics of Loren Martell are treading heavily on the latter offense.

I don’t think that incuriosity is uncivil but I don’t think its virtuous either. After all, we’re talking about school board members who are presumed to be concerned about education and enlightenment. I’d have to say that on this score Loren Martell ranks far above the incumbent he is challenging and the best evidence of this is the column he wrote for the Trib yesterday. I suspect (although it may be uncivil of me to offer this speculation) that the District’s PR person has written most of the stuff that current school board members submit to the Trib to justify their continuing support of the Red Plan.

I’d like to take credit for some of Loren’s perspicacity but he never reads my blog.

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