Gov.-Gen. Payette is right to speak up

Re: Mockery never the answer, Nov. 4.

There is no denying that the governor general represents all Canadians, even those with differing views. But that cannot and should not deny Julie Payette the right to use her high office to correct misconceptions and outright incorrect views held by “a disturbingly large proportion of the population.”

The writer of this article states that it is precisely because far too many people accept at “face value any nonsense they stumble across on Twitter ... that the world ends up with people like Donald Trump in positions of enormous power.” Is it not, therefore, a good thing that our very well educated, scientific and modern governor general uses her pulpit to speak out against that same sort of ignorance?

It would be too much to expect elected leaders, dependent on votes, to be so forthright. Their efforts to correct widely held misconceptions will necessarily be more circumspect and, hence, less effective. If we are to avoid the consequences of that sort of ignorance continuing to prevail in large sections of our population, we have to be more proactive in countering it.

With our small population, we simply cannot afford to encourage “a disturbingly large proportion” to wallow in disinformation, fake news and other beliefs at odds with established science. A modern, scientifically educated governor general is an asset and a fantastic role model for our youth. Let us use her rather than try to stifle her. Farrokh Kapadia, Ottawa