I feel obligated to say something about Matt Benson, because, as the Talmud says, "Silence is akin to assent." For starters, if Benson gets his way, none of us will be able to give our propaganda fighters an instrument that is very much needed at this time. Therefore, we must not let Benson win support by encapsulating frustrations and directing them toward unpopular scapegoats. If he ever claims that courtesy and manners don't count for anything, we must answer only one thing: "No, the reverse is true." Don't get me wrong; I certainly find that nefarious beggars are no different from closed-minded conspiracy theorists. But he has been known to say that individual worth is defined by race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin. That notion is so counter-productive, I hardly know where to begin refuting it. If some people are offended by my mentioning that Benson's double standards have gotten way out of hand, then so be it. Benson wants to make serious dialogue difficult or impossible. Is this so he can court an impudent minority of blasphemous nonentities, or is it to fill the air with recrimination and rancor? You be the judge. In either case, a person who wants to get ahead should try to understand the long-range consequences of his/her rodomontades. Benson has never had that faculty. He always does what he wants to do at the moment and figures he'll be able to lie himself out of any problems that arise. And that, in my view, is our real problem.