Former residents spread facts instead of rumors

My husband and I lived in Kodiak for 23 years. We left in late 2006 when he retired and we moved to the Lower 48 to be closer to family and medical care. We were only just beginning to get to know about Sarah Palin when we left Alaska, but were positively impressed with her background, tenacity and desire to work for the people.

Now that we are living “down below,” our new friends are asking what we think of John McCain’s choice of Sarah for VP. E-mails from friends across the country are asking our opinion. We continue to reply in the affirmative!

A friend from back East sent me an e-mail of a particularly vicious nature that is being passed around written by someone who supposedly lives in Wasilla. This person claims to “know more about Sarah Palin than most of you” and goes on and on with nasty comments and little fact. This is the type of thing that the news media and people who have only slight knowledge of Alaska go crazy for.

I researched the comments in the e-mail and replied to my friends with facts and the hope that they will circulate the truth. To vilify a woman with an 80-plus approval rating because she is not Hillary Clinton is ridiculous, not to mention hurtful. To pass information based on opinion and not fact is dangerous.

In a way I wish we still lived in Alaska so that we could say that we are Alaskans instead of “former Alaskans.” But then I realize that living here offers an opportunity to witness and debunk some of the garbage that is being circulated.

Blogging is not journalism. In fact, these days I wonder if journalism is really journalism. Scandalmongering will only continue to divide this country and it’s time to stop.

Priscilla Messner-Patterson

Sequim, Wash.