Indeed, political sentiment is sometimes far from reason. One of the top disconnects is the use of Joseph McCarthy (three times in Brian Jackson's My View on June 3) in a dishonest way. McCarthy was right: 205 accusations, 205 proven true. (See "Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies" by M. Stanton Evans or "The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America — The Stalin Era" by Allen Weinstein for example.) And to cheaply peel off comparisons to him as though "everyone knows" how bad he was is evidence of guilt of the exact charge leveled against those who are alarmed at the newspeak championed by the BYU education department and Alpine School District.
We can change the meanings of words to fit the occasion, which in this case may be benign. But for more than a hundred years, there has been a powerful, subtle movement that has changed meanings, invaded educational circles and promoted false and detrimental principles. We always need leadership, but it should be by those who are also good and wise. Even then, vigilance is required. We could talk about John Dewey, who was followed as a great educational intellect and who said that the greatest obstacles to education were children's mothers and religion.
Allan South
Orem