Larry Burden has a lot to learn about reality. Absolutes are his mantra and his desire to divide everyone according to his ‘us and them’ world view is pathetic. Projecting one’s own philosophy to attack an entire segment of humanity is typical of the small mindless of this new style of conservatism. He appears to be steeped in the self-pity of being a white guy who feels put upon by those who don’t agree with him or his world view. His adjective, adverb filled one-sided rant against everyone and everything he knows nothings about is a common denominator for those with such a limited world view. I had a grandfather like him and the entire family suffered from the constant spewing of self-righteous, angry, uneducated, unresearched rants. It’s apparent that, to Mr. Burden, anyone else with an opinion is wrong because only conservative males have the correct world view where only their opinion is the correct opinion and determines the homogeneous reality they will allow to exist. It’s obvious he has never studied history or the humanities or thought very deeply about what a one sided conservative view of the world implies or, indeed, what conservatism means. He forgets there is an entire planet filled with humans who are diverse (not just conservative white men) and diversity is not something he can control and that education is not a liberal conspiracy.

I urge Mr Burden to unburden his slanted view of the world by reading Carl Sagan’s essay ‘A Pale Blue Dot’. Maybe it will give him something to actually think about, instead of himself.

Helen Avila,

Pocatello