Editor:
I cannot begin to explain the depth of my outrage I experienced upon reading Dean Balkenstein and Tiffany Teske’s letter to the editor (Government Response to COVID-19 goes to far) in the RMO issue of April 16.
The selfishness on display by Balkenstein and Teske is truly hard to comprehend. That they would have the audacity to suggest that a human life is worth sacrificing because they have had their precious lifestyle impacted goes beyond rational thinking. And it is that irrational thinking that I believe needs to be addressed and condemned.
History has shown time and time again, that such thinking, the sacrificing of one segment of society to the benefit of another, has led to the rise of Nazi Germany, the Rwandan genocide and the slaughter of the Rohingya in Myanmar, amongst others.
Yes, we do have freedom of expression in Canada, but when such expression suggests what Balkenstein and Teske have, it must called out and condemned loudly and vigorously.
Balkenstein and Teske represent the very worst of our Canadian society, and dare I suggest of the broader human race when expressing the thoughts they did. They are the poster children for ignorance, narrow minded thinking and hysteria. Fortunately they, and their ilk that will find their proposal appealing, are an infinitely small minority in Canada.
I imagine I am not the only Bow Valley resident who read and responded to their letter, and if so, I hope the RMO posts every single one of them so that Balkenstein and Teske feel the community shaming they so rightly deserve.
K. Gordon Schultz,
Canmore
