My new ground rules

Last week I wrote a blog about 175 healthcare employees in the Novant Health system who opted not to get vaccinated for Covid-19. Consequently, they were fired by their employer after having a week or so to think about whether or not to comply with the company's vaccination mandate before making a decision.

So they made their decision. No vaccine. No job. Their choice. I applauded Novant's resolve, especially as it comes in the midst of a national nursing shortage. But in my opinion, it was the right call, and that's what I wrote. (It should also be noted that Novant had 99 percent compliance from its workforce of 35,000 employees, an indication that its employees thought that keeping their jobs was more important than a false sense of lost personal freedom during a pandemic that has killed 700,000 Americans).

I published my blog and then posted it on Facebook, my preferred social media platform, like I usually do.

Then the comments started rolling in and that's where I stumbled and did something I promised myself I was never going to do: I got into a tit-for-tat war of posting links with one of my readers in a public forum, each one of us trying to prove his point by outlinking the other. It's easy to get caught up in that nonsense, and it's not wise.

I should have known better – and now I do. I will no longer respond to readers' comments with whom I disagree. It's exhausting. It's time consuming. And it's fruitless. You're never going to change someone else's mind on matters you are both passionate about.

I will not censor a comment. I've been in journalism for more than 40 years and I am wary of anything that smacks of censorship or an abridgement of our First Amendment right of free speech. That freedom still exists on my page.

I consider my blog to be something akin to an editorial page in a newspaper, and the comments are the letters to the editor. Keep in mind many newspapers edit letters to the editor, or choose not to run certain letters at all. I have done neither to this point, so, please, continue to comment away.

But make no mistake: I am not surrendering my stance on an opinion I own simply because I am not responding to a comment. If you think you're getting the last word with me and that you've won the debate, it's an illusion. The way I see it, I've already said my piece in my blog. I might consider responding to you in a private message, although that option is still a work in progress. But our personal exchanges will not be made in public.

One thing I will no longer tolerate is insulting or disrespectful language to another reader's opinion. It's hurtful and beneath all of us. I will demand civility to another person's opinion, whether you think that person is correct or not. That's not negotiable. I may block you or delete you if that happens.

This is my blog, and I can say what I want. Here, I'll make it easy for you – these are some of the things I believe:

• Masks work.

• Mandates work.

• Vaccines work. Yes, you can still catch Covid after vaccination (nobody said vaccines had 100 percent efficacy, especially with this particularly insidious virus), but it appears the vaccine most likely will keep you off a ventilator, out of the hospital and out of the morgue. That seems very true when combined with masks and mandates.

• The mainstream media is not the enemy of the people. I get most of my information for my blogs from the Associated Press, Reuters, NBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post and several other reliable organizations. Anything not in the mainstream, I believe, tends to deal in conspiracy theories or misinformation. I also rely on my own critical thinking, my own eyes and ears, and my own common sense. That's why it's my blog.

• The Democrat Party is not the enemy. It is the opposition. As a former Republican myself (I am now Unaffiliated), I wish I could say the same thing about the Republican Party, but the Jan. 6 riot and the subsequent attempted GOP rewrite of the insurrection, the absurd Fraudits designed to sow seeds of doubt about our democracy, the Big Lie, voter restrictions trying to overturn the will of the people, and other democracy-destroying assaults, have changed all that.

• The GOP has no platform other than obstruction. If it does, please tell me what it is. It is no longer a party of governance. Lincoln is weeping.

• I believe in science.

• I believe there was Russian interference in the 2016 election. 

• I believe most political memes on the Internet are Russian or Chinese in origin and are designed to further divide us. It's working.

• I believe the 2020 election was the most secure in American history. Anything else is a lie.

• I believe Jan. 6 was not tourists strolling through the Capitol while Congress is in session. It was an insurrection before our very eyes. Anything else is a lie.

• I believe Dr. Fauci is a dedicated public servant striving to save lives.

• "I believe in the soul, ..., the small of a woman's back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf...". Oh, wait. I got confused. That was Crash Davis from Bull Durham. Then again, I don't think he's wrong.

I hope this helps. There are plenty of other things I believe in. And every now and then, I'll write a blog about some of them.

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