GREENFIELD DISTORTER
July 15, 2020
About a month ago there was an online petition “to remove the artwork of a local business owner John Sendelbach.”
The Recorder with all its exuberance, ran a front page article about the petition. Three days later the petition was taken down. The morning of the article, I wrote the following and sent it to the editor of the Recorder. My letter never made it to print. I am trying again, to offer my support to Mr. Sendelbach and voice my opinion the matter.
June 12 I wrote: This newspaper is perpetuating division and exclusion. A petitioner states, “I want my community to be represented in a positive and loving way.” Hypocrisy! Am I wrong? How is calling out a person based on their skin color and gender, Mr. Sendelbach is a caucasian male, to publicly shame, ridicule and chastise him, threatening his business and livelihood, acting in “a positive and loving way”? I think it is the exact opposite. The petition group is using fascist techniques to silence and ostracize a person into submission. Read between the lines how subtle they are to highlight a person’s skin color and gender. Plain and simple a mob mentality: Encircle an individual, then shout them down, because they disagree with you. If this type of mob think continues, where will it lead to? Who is next?
Jim Bates, Gill, MA