Afghanistan blunder

This letter is a response to the “When free speech damages democracy” publisher’s note in the Sept. 8 Boulder Monitor. I remembered a few times when the F-word was used to slander me.

With middle fingers up, “F— You blankity blank blank …” shouted from open car window, the slanderers probably didn’t know that I understood almost nothing of what they said. Theirs didn’t seem a very good way to open a productive dialogue. I saw their slander as an ambush, an explosion of emotion arousing anxiety, shattering the calm goodwill of a warm afternoon.

Your publisher’s note opened the way to useful dialogue—ask questions, which you did and got answers from Shannon Waisanen: “… Constitutional freedoms increasingly threatened …”