Deplorable doesn’t mean ignorant

One of the unfortunate concomitants of ignorance is the absence of capacity to be aware of it. Mr. Schuster, in his rabid response to the eminent columnist Leonard Pitts (“Pitts owes an apology,” Feb. 9), evidently cannot grasp that “deplorable” does not mean uneducated or stupid. Anyone who can read can look up the definition.

While it may be true that the overall level of formal education of those who voted against Trump is higher than those who voted for him, this fact in itself stipulates nothing about either the philosophical leanings, achievement abilities, morality, etc. of either group.

A study of the demographics of the last election indicates that there were at least three rather distinct groups who supported Trump: 1) those unfortunates embittered by the circumstances of their lives blindly adopted Trump as their vengeful attack dog ; 2) those who were single-mindedly convinced that the empowerment of Trump would be personally, primarily financially, beneficial to them; and 3) those who were persuaded by the media that Trump was a true savior of their threatened ideological alignments.

Whether misled, pathetic or immoral, this does not bear directly on their exposure to or lack of higher education. Good people can be humbly educated, simple and successful. Scoundrels can be highly educated, brilliant and failures. But anyone who fosters meanness, prejudice and selfishness is deplorable, “if the shoe fits.”

Peter Grossman

Spokane