Our Orwellian reality
2016 was the beginning of 1984. In March 2019, The Washington Post calculated that Trump had made 9,014 false claims during his first 773 days in office; the average had risen from just under six a day during his first year to twenty-two a day in 2019.
During a speech in 2018, Trump said, “What you’re seeing and what you are reading is not what’s happening.” Today, our own 1984, like when Orwell wrote “the party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
Donald Stanley
Nobleboro
Vaccines are safe and effective
In May, the Maine Legislature passed LD 798, which removed an exemption that allowed people to opt out of required school vaccines for non-medical reasons. High rates of vaccine refusal mean that many schools’ vaccination rates are below the community immunity threshold – a type of protection from disease that occurs when many people around you are vaccinated. Community immunity offers a critical level of protection for kids who are unable to be vaccinated and for whom exposure to illnesses can have severe consequences.
Despite the vast amount of evidence supporting vaccination, broad distribution of misinformation about vaccination is rampant. This misinformation is fueling an effort to overturn this important law, which has been lauded as a best practice to protect kids in school from preventable disease.
Our children deserve to be able to access education without the risk of contracting a serious illness. If anyone asks you to sign a petition about this and uses the words “parental choice” in their sales pitch, I urge you to consider the kids who don’t have a choice. These kids need us to make policies based on the best evidence we have — and the evidence shows us that vaccines are safe and effective.
Kalie Hess
Augusta
Times have changed
The author of a recent letter to the editor felt that claims of sexual harassment in the workplace are exaggerated because in a recently released study, 40 percent of respondents said they experience harassment weekly but less than 24 percent said they have witnessed others being harassed. That argument, essentially, is that since workplace harassment not being seen as often as it’s claimed to occur, then it probably isn’t happening as often as is claimed.
By that logic, the recent vandalism in Bangor isn’t really happening. Out of 20 incidents, only one or two were caught on camera so the others must be false claims.
The letter writer is either unaware of or is ignoring two considerations. First, many people who harass others do hide their actions. They know their behavior is inappropriate and damaging, or maybe they don’t want to be fined or fired. Second, sexual harassment covers a broad range of actions, including acts some people think are fine. Harassment isn’t only about pressuring someone to perform sexual acts or grabbing a quick feel. Sexual harassment in the work place includes: telling dirty jokes, posting pictures of barely dressed people, or other actions that create an intimidating environment.
People need to realize that times have changed. Sexual harassment in the workplace has always been here, but the victims are no longer willing to stay silent. Just because it is not seen does not mean it is not happening.
Andrew Matlins
Bangor