On pondering past

Words are so important to our society, to our culture, to our future. We have the opportunity to repair some of the ills that plague our nation as we adjust our thinking. Make no mistake, it takes a great deal of pondering the past and envisioning the future.

We need to untie the discord and unite our country — a simple change in the placement of the letter “i” can change our philosophy. America was born of many peoples with many differing thoughts, yet they worked together to build a better form of government.

We need to defend the police rather than defund the police — a simple replacement of the vowel between the “f” and the “n” can make a great deal of difference in the way order is restored in our country. The founding fathers did not envision the anarchist or socialist state that so many seem to be striving for.

If one reads the history of socialist governments, no one would purposely lead us into that abyss. If we don’t know history, we are destined to repeat it. Those who are trying to erase history simply based on race could be called e-racists. It is obvious that the mobs who are taking cities hostage across this country are in it to destroy it. They have destroyed monuments to great leaders, great statesmen, even great peacemakers. They tore those statues down in ignorance. The trouble with mobs is there are too many heads but no brains.

In our comprehension of what we watch and/or hear in the news is a very important point. We must be aware of the “illusion of truth” effect (look it up on BBC Future, by Tom Stafford, Oct. 26, 2016). A Nazi who worked with Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, lived by the propagandist law, “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.” That is still true today. The lesson? Get your news from multiple sources. The adage “don’t believe everything you read” holds true today. Become an informed voter!

JEAN RIISE LEFFLER Conway