Dear Editor,
In an October 23 letter to the Mountain Times, Steve Berry wrote, “John Kerry stated at a World Economic Forum panel, ‘Our First Amendment stands as a major block (to getting things done).’”
You may wonder why Mr. Berry uses such odd syntax, placing part of the quote in parentheses. Maybe it’s because Kerry did not say those words.
In fact, according to James Lynch in the conservative National Review on Sept. 29, 2024, 2:06 p.m., what Kerry said was, “But, look, if people go to only one source, and the source they go to is sick and has an agenda, and they’re putting out disinformation, our First Amendment stands as a major block to the ability to be able to hammer it out of existence.”
It’s ironic that what we get from Mr. Berry is the precise thing Kerry was talking about, disinformation, a less provocative word than “lie.”
Berry goes on to imply that Kerry used the words “just hammer it out of existence” toward the First Amendment. Of course, Kerry directed these words toward disinformation, not the First Amendment, but when you are on a disinformation roll, why not keep going? That’s exactly what Mr. Berry did.
He “quotes” Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris without giving references so we can quickly check to find out what they said and what context their words were in. He criticizes VP Harris for calling freedom of speech a “privilege”, not a right. In fact, we are “privileged” to live in a country where it is, in fact, a right. That it is a right does not mean it is not a privilege, but Mr. Berry is apparently incapable of grasping such profound logic.
In his criticism of Clinton, he ignores that we do have laws against some kinds of speech, namely libel and slander. Finally, it is interesting that Mr. Berry does not criticize Trump. But, according to The Independent on Sept. 24, 2024, Trump suggested that people should be jailed for “the way they talk about our judges and our justices.”
According to The Hill on May 2, 2022, “Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that former President Trump asked authorities if they could shoot protesters in the legs amid the demonstrations that filled the streets of Washington following the murder of George Floyd. That would seem to contradict the protestor’s right to freedom of speech. Mr. Berry’s writing is simply dishonest, and he should understand that improper syntax and ignoring context does not turn lies into truth.
Kem Phillips, Cavendish
