<
Columnist exaggerates civility crisis
<
In response to John McKay’s “Our Town” column on March 3 (“Let’s treat man and beast with respect”), I agree with his sentiment that we should treat each other with civility and respect. However, I disagree with his use of the incident at the city council meeting as a point to assess our community’s character, and I question him being the voice of that message.
<
Mr. McKay said he doesn’t remember seeing that kind of uncivil or disrespectful behavior before. I do. I saw it from a former council member who publicly chastised members of the community last March after the LAFCO decision, shaming them for not “knowing the truth.” There are examples of it in Mr. McKay’s own column, including one last November when he took personal exception to Mark Grzan’s opinion and challenged Grzan’s comments publicly, as well as other times regarding Measure S, when he referred to those with differing opinions as misinformed and not knowing the facts.
<
In fairness to being critical of Mr. McKay’s personal assessment of Morgan Hill’s social fabric, I’ll offer my assessment for critique, as well. I was at the council meeting and witnessed the accusation of lying. I did not see an example of the type of unpleasant behavior Mr. McKay claimed in his column to be occurring continually at our local level.
<
What I saw was a single incident involving an individual who was upset at feeling slighted by a process, and nothing more. I didn’t extend that man’s behavior to the rest of the community any more than I’d extend one council member’s behavior to the rest of the council. The incident was what it was and should not, in my opinion, have been used as a springboard to convey a personal analysis of social behavior.
<
We all have differing opinions, differing lifestyles, differing needs and differing emotional triggers. We may have bad days or struggle dealing with stressful situations. The resulting responses can take the appearance of being uncivil or disrespectful. I don’t view this as anything other than humans being human. I certainly don’t see this as an indication that our community is headed toward anger management issues.
<
Morgan Hill is a wonderful city full of wonderful people. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve encountered truly uncivil or disrespectful behavior while living here. No single incident has ever made me question the direction the attitude of our community is headed. No combination of incidents has made me feel the need to remind the community to be kind to one another.
<
Yes, we can be better. What I know is, more often than not, better starts with me and always ends with me. I will work harder to look at my behavior first before setting expectations for the behavior of others. All I can hope is that those calling the behavior of others into question follow suit.
<
Chris Monack
<
Morgan Hill
<
Stanford should disown congresswoman
<
With regard to Zoe Lofgren’s town hall in Morgan Hill, it’s a shame that Zoe would besmirch her Stanford education and dishonor her oath of office by simply becoming an ideologue who represents nothing more than the talking points of Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democratic party.
<
I went to Stanford with Zoe. She was a better person then, when she could actually utter logical sentences in a cogent manner. Not anymore.
<
Her gentrified brain and well-trained tongue can only spout words that lack nuance or a clear understanding of issues. She attracted a room full of sycophants.
<
The current voting system in California makes it almost impossible to unseat her.
<
To me, this combination of facts makes her town hall meetings not newsworthy. They are simply propaganda events.She can do better. We need better.
<
Stanford should disown her.
<
Peter Jensen
<
Morgan Hill
