Tolerance lost in fear-driven society
Living in the “Bible Belt,” one could anticipate an atmosphere of compassion, empathy and tranquility. Unfortunately, over the last decade we have witnessed the reverse. Jesus said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me,” yet our new mantra seems to be, “Let the little children suffer.” How did we lose our tolerance so quickly? We seem to live in a fear-filled racist society stoked by the incessant beat of right-wing fanaticism and biased media reporting. How I miss the thoughtful, cool and pragmatic reports of anchors and authors of previous times. We need to return to the intelligent, caring society that once made us great before we become the complete antithesis of our original vision.
TOM MCMANUS, ROSWELL
A few fanatics could sow chaos
Most of the commentary about Syrian refugees, including Andre Jackson’s in the AJC (“Georgia, and the rest of the U.S., should balance risk-assessment with compassion in our handling of refugees fleeing war-racked Syria,” Opinion, Nov. 22) urges a humane treatment of misplaced people from a country deep in chaos — chaos created in large part by the same people who want to kill us, have tried successfully and will try again.
We ordinary citizens get our information from the media, and the media is relentless in wanting us to appear waiting with open arms for frightened people and not to embarrass our Statue of Liberty. Neither I, nor most of the people, I know feel safe any more on the streets. And reported in the media relentlessly are stories of outrage at attempts by our police trying to keep the peace.
It will only take a handful of religious fanatics to cause everlasting harm to our citizens, as happened in Paris. If we choose to welcome all who wish to come, those fanatics may well be among them. Or maybe they’re already here.
JACK FRANKLIN, CONYERS
‘Religious liberty’ study is suspect
So the Metro Atlanta Chamber and its twin, the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, have bought a “study” showing how damaging the proposed religious liberty legislation would be to Georgia (“‘Religious liberty’ could cost Ga. $1B,” Metro, Nov. 22). I actually have no idea if passage of this legislation would damage Georgia, but the entire situation reeks of blackmail by these two organizations and by outside organizations that have their own narrow agenda most people would consider immoral. Bearing in mind the Atlanta Chamber tried to kill the investigation into the Atlanta Public Schools scandal, these two organizations are lacking in morality and have proven they have no integrity.
ERNEST WADE, LOGANVILLE
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