Jason Paltanavich: Why did The Sun so eagerly embrace the cancel culture?

To The Daily Sun,

I am saddened and disheartened by the community's respond to the recent cartoon by Mike Luckovich, a syndicated Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist.

There are truths for many people in that cartoon, but I am not here to discuss the merits of the cartoon, though I found it quite striking and poignant. I am writing as a dismayed reader that The Laconia Daily Sun so eagerly embraced the cancel culture over a this cartoon. This cartoon is hard to digest for many, including myself, because we have no personal experiences with the content. I understand people may find it abhorrent, however satire has a long history of being a haven of dissidents, in the words of Salman Rushdie it is, "a force for liberty and against tyranny, dishonesty, and stupidity."

It is disappointing to see The Laconia Daily Sun cancel future editorial comics. Not all comics are Peanuts or Calvin and Hobbes, as some shed truths upon the ugliness of the world. In 2015, the world came together to support satirists in France, after 12 people lost their lives to extremists. We should still stand with those who push the limits of speech, even if it is uncomfortable and speech in which you completely disavow. For the foundations of democracy are dependent upon the free exchange of thoughts and ideas. I implore The Laconia Daily Sun to reverse it's position, and keep the editorial comic going, even if it is discomforting to us. Je suis toujours Charlie.

Jason Paltanavich

Gilford