Letter: How false information and hate are harmful to our children and our future

By Letter to the Editor on September 16, 2021.

Dear editor,

Our children are the future of our country and planet, and they are being inundated with false information and hate on top of everything else they have to contend with.

The scientific community is being vilified for trying to tell people the truth and are being chastised for changing recommendations solely because as new information becomes available recommendations must also change.

Children see and hear these attacks and if they are inclined to be scientists and to do this type of work, do we really think they will pursue these goals if they are going to be subjected to the type of abuse that is currently being hurled at scientists now.

When one sees how the doctors and nurses are being abused on social media and in everyday conversations, just because they are trying their best to help us get through this trying time, and because they are taking a stand to help all of us by encouraging us to do the right thing. Who would blame the students for choosing a different profession for no other reason than to save themselves from the harsh and unjustified criticism being heaped upon those that are currently working in those professions ?

Take a look at the ill treatment that teachers and others in the field of education are receiving for no other reason than they are trying to protect themselves, and more importantly the children. And what about the store owners who enforce masking and social distancing rules for no other reason than to try and keep their customers and staff safe. There are many others as well but space is limited in a letter.

Can we really blame these children for choosing other fields than the ones mentioned ?

We need these students to dream and pursue these fields as we will always need scientists and teachers as well as doctors and nurses and business owners, along with many other professions.

These students may not lose by simply pursuing other vocations, but we as a society lose a great deal for not having them in those roles because these and others are essential to a well functioning society.

We need to understand – and we need to do it in a hurry – the damage that we are doing to these young people in the future by being irresponsible in the present.

David W. Railton

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