Applauds journalistic resolve of publisher

To the editor:

Kari Sleight’s retirement as publisher of the Frontiersman deserved the front-page coverage given it last Sunday. She leaves a legacy of journalistic integrity that I fervently hope current and future Frontiersman staff can uphold.

Her vigorous defense of freedom of expression in the face of condemnation for publishing unpopular or unfashionable points of view, or so-called “poorly written” letters from sincere people, demonstrated real courage. This is the journalistic courage venerated by U.S. founders.

Modern mainstream media all too often plays to the prejudices of their targeted audiences or slants their output at the behest of government or moneyed interests. Examples include Fox News coverage of the “Occupy Wall Street” protests, Anchorage Daily News blackout of opposing science to “mankind driven climate change/global warming” theory, the general media blackout against presidential candidates like Ron Paul and Herman Cain, and the media whitewashing of the U.S. executive branch perversion of its war-making powers (Libya, etc.) — as supported by the virtual oath-breaking of Congress and U.S. military leaders.

America has been in deep trouble from being the most propagandized nation on Earth, making many Americans intellectual puppets. You see, too many of us are conditioned by our formative education to use data and information filtered through prejudice chosen or officially approved government “expert” or news sources. This naturally makes us intellectual slaves to those sources. The cure is, of course, wide dissemination of information that is evaluated by a majority of Americans using logical reasoning encouraged by the discipline of the scientific method. This is commonly called doing your own thinking — something you can’t do if others control your information.

This is why we vitally need publishers like Kari Sleight to give outlets to the opposing views that mark true freedom of expression — regardless of propaganda attacks that authors are “conspiracy theorists” or “uneducated” or anti-whatever radicals.

Let me close by closely paraphrasing Rule IV from Isaac Newton’s “Rules of Reasoning” concerning the scientific method: “Virtuous science is based on inductive conclusions derived from openly repeatable and/or verifiable observations of reality, as gathered and organized by disciplined experimentation and research. These inductive conclusions — called scientific laws, principles and theories — are constantly subject to any unconfronted or more accurate observations being found that then impel modifications to them.”

Modern science and technologies developed because this mental discipline made real intellectual democracy possible.

Why are Americans allowing its overthrow? Seek the answer, citizens!

Stuart Thompson

Wasilla