No place for Madsen piece

Sue Lani Madsen’s latest column “Nonie Darwish’s immigration tale embraces American culture” (Sept. 30) has no place in the pages of The Spokesman-Review.

Madsen’s latest piece is thinly disguised hate speech, defined by Merriam-Webster as “speech that is intended to insult, offend, or intimidate a person because of some trait … race, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, or disability.”

As a former journalist, I place tremendous value on freedom of expression and a diversity of opinions, but opinions that reify hateful and dangerous ideas should not be legitimized by the newspaper. The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics calls upon the Fourth Estate to minimize harm, and Madsen’s column is devastatingly harmful when it reduces the Islamic faith to “a culture shaped by violent jihad.”

She has the freedom to express the idea that some humans are less human than others, but the newspaper shouldn’t validate such thoughts by publishing them.

Please, in a nation where intelligent, thoughtful public discourse is increasingly difficult, don’t further normalize impoverished claims in the pages of the local paper.

Kristina Johnson Morehouse

Spokane