It’s ‘about time’ that centrist Democrats challenged the far left

Regarding “Centrist Dems begin arguing against far-left agenda” (July 21): It’s about time. The Democrats may be “looking for big, bold ideas,” including single-payer health insurance, but they should heed two things:

1.) They do not want voters holding their noses and gritting their teeth as they cast their anyone-but-Trump ballots. After enduring years of dysfunctional, divisive “government,” many voters desperately seek a move to the center where compromise and civility at least have a chance.

2.) While progressivism may seem to be big and bold, it is nothing but a euphemism for socialism, a theory that, in practice, has proved to be bankrupt. As Margaret Thatcher so aptly put it, “The problem with socialism is you eventually run out of other people’s money.”

‘Not that book’

Regarding “Required UNC text labels cancer ‘disease of choice’” (July 16): UNC’s School of Public Health is ranked second in the U.S., yet undergraduates are required to read “21st Century Wellness” by exercise scientist Ron Hager, who calls heart disease, diabetes and cancer “diseases of choice.”

Students who complained about the book’s emphasis on healthy choices with no discussion of the societal factors of health outcomes are right.

I support the students’ concerns while recognizing that healthy behaviors are one aspect of disease prevention and management. Not addressing barriers to health (access, cost) or genetic predisposition misses the elephant in the room.

Hager teaches at a private college in Utah, the state ranked 4th most-healthy in the U.S. He may lack the depth of expertise worthy of students who live in a state ranked 33rd for health, 40th for health disparities.

When these disparities can account for differences in life expectancy of 20 years, blaming people for their chronic disease seems especially cruel.

Don’t we wish students, many with future careers in health, medicine and policy might link their inspiration to required reading in their freshman year? This is not that book.

Censure ‘shameful’

Regarding “Durham Council shuns speaker without knowing” (July 20): For the first time ever I find myself in agreement with columnist J. Peder Zane. He is 100 percent right about the shameful attempts to censure Dr. Jordan Peterson just because he does not exactly toe the line of left-wing orthodoxy.

Isn’t trying to silence those we disagree with the very antithesis of liberalism?

For some people it is warranted, not because they are conservative but because they are nothing more than empty-headed provocateurs who never had an interesting idea in their lives. But Peterson is an educated and respected scholar who has given much careful thought to many issues in contemporary society and written clearly and intelligently about them.

If you don’t agree with everything he says– and I certainly don’t – then the thing to do is think about the issue, engage in conversations, and the like. Finger-pointing and name-calling are juvenile, futile and only serve to give more ammunition to the right wing’s efforts to paint liberals as close-minded and dogmatic.

‘Slippery slope’

Regarding “Required UNC text labels cancer ‘disease of choice’” (July 16): So now, UNC has decided to offer a mandatory fitness class that, among other things, informs the reader that cancer is a “choice.”

Having survived Acute Myocardial Leukemia through the grace of God and superhuman efforts from the doctors, nurses and staff at the Cancer Center of Wake Forrest Baptist Health, fighting through chemo and bone marrow transplant, I resent the implication that I had a “choice.”

Diseases and addictions are often a complicated combination of physical, psychological and emotional distress. Merely suggesting that addicts are “choosing” to destroy their lives, families and futures is reprehensible.

As soon as we as a society openly debase and marginalize struggling and needy members, we begin a march toward a slippery slope that is hard to negotiate. Passing extremist ideas off as basic truth is shameful to our entire edeucation system.

This story was originally published July 23, 2018 at 11:21 AM.