"In order to maintain a tolerant society, the society must be intolerant of intolerance."
— Austrian-British philosopher Karl Popper
When I read News Tribune sports reporter Rick Weegman's June 10 column, “ Last week's Lift Bridge color swap was PC absurdity ,” I felt like the newspaper was giving a voice to hate. There are legitimate reasons why we maybe should have let the bridge be lit blue; however, a hate-filled tirade against PC culture was not one of them.
The Aerial Lift Bridge, a symbol of our city, being blue could have been seen as in support of Blue Lives Matter. Weegman appeared to be feigning ignorance of this by trying to falsely state it was simply because blue is the color of police officers' uniforms.
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His commentary was filled with whataboutism, a propaganda technique commonly employed by the alt right, and false equivalences. He provided little rationale for his opinion that the response to the blue lights was “absurd." In the end he undercut his own examples as absurd, it seemed to me. To refer to police brutality as "overly aggressive" was loaded language apparently meant to minimize the issue. All of this led me to believe his opinion was simply thinly veiled racism.
I found it especially upsetting that one of the newspaper’s staff would be allowed to run such an article, showcasing ignorance. From an outsider's perspective, it looked like Weegman got to run his unhinged opinion due to his position at the paper.
I understand the column was published in the Opinion section; however, that defense does not excuse him or the paper from responsibility, as the News Tribune chose to let it be run.
Matt Sergent
Duluth
