To the editor:

This is a response to “Teach our children well,” an open letter to the Lee County School Board by Madelon Stewart and published in the Cape Coral Breeze on Feb. 29.

I firmly believe that everyone has the right to an opinion. I must take a stand when that opinion is injurious to this reader, my family and, I believe, to society in general.

I will quote sections of the letter and offer rebuttals.

The writer addresses all residents of Lee County, but the strength of her invectives is aimed squarely at citizens of more conservative persuasion.

She uses the example of Nex Benedict, a “non-binary” student who, per her description, was the victim of “hate, rage, and the urge to punish someone different than oneself.” The investigation is ongoing, so no specifics on the cause of death are available. As typical of liberal mindset, (vis a vis George Floyd), jumping to conclusions about a “hate” crime is totally in keeping with liberal moral standards and societal justice. Both the USA Today and the Local News stated that initial findings confirmed Nex did not die from trauma, but died the next day. Nex’s sad story is a distortion meant to gain sympathy. But, let’s not let facts get in the way when a good yarn about conservative hate can be spun.

To quote further, “The idea, I guess, is that if we pretend that people aren’t different, in a myriad of wonderful and confounding ways, maybe we can subside back into our comfortable, smug, self-righteous bubble and just hope they will go away.” I’m not clear what is meant by this. This is projection and it is again a method that liberals use to infer what they are actually thinking on citizens that they wish to control. It’s a weak argument and one that no longer creates guilt in the target audience.

“Where does the hate and rage toward ‘the other’ come from?” the letter asks. There are free-floating references to “hate and rage” but where are specific examples in the Lee County School District of such malfeasance? When I last checked, the district has extensive, reasonable, well-thought measures to prevent rage, bigotry, racism, and bullying. What specific examples support the letter’s contorted worldview?

The letter blames “indoctrination at home, social media, sermons at Christian and other houses of worship” as the source of this widespread hatred in society. No specific examples, again, of these sources of hate are provided of a worship service that has advocated hatred. Why impugn the reputation of religious individuals if you don’t know them or understand their worship?

To quote: “We have heard ‘self-professed Christians’ at school board meetings yelling that homosexuality is an abomination. How terribly cruel and how terribly false.” This reflects judgement of other people’s religious beliefs founded on the Bible as well as the Jewish Torah and the Koran of Islam.

Please, if you write a letter for the edification of your fellow citizens, use some thought in advance, and produce ideas which are helpful and mutually beneficial, not condemnatory. You will not win converts to your cause if you paint the majority of the conservative population of Lee County as haters, bigots, homophobes, racists, and imbeciles. That just doesn’t work.

We each have a responsibility to advocate for the basic human decency we strive to achieve. To do otherwise and society’s bedrock will crumble.

Dr. Edward F. Drass, M.D.

Cape Coral