YOUR AD HERE »

Why choose to be uninformed?

At a time in U.S. history when everyone realizes Americans need to make a special effort to communicate with those of different beliefs and opinions, it is disappointing to learn the local Aspen Times and Aspen Daily News gave no publicity or coverage to the first-ever Aspen presentation of prominent international moderate Muslim speakers which took place last week at the Jewish Community Center. The five renowned liberal Muslim speakers represented four different countries and spoke eloquently about the need to recognize and speak out against radical Islamist terrorism and sharia as well as to promote the separation of mosque and state, to encourage integration into local cultures instead of separation. Why would locals not want to know about moderate Muslim reform efforts? Whenever there is an Islamist terror attack, we often ask “Where are the real moderate Muslims?” Well, they were here in Aspen and both newspapers chose to ignore them in spite of being told about the event repeatedly. Nonetheless, the community center was filled with 250 people who were interested in learning about moderate efforts. Local Alan Altman went to the trouble of bringing these prominent Muslims speakers to our remote mountain town, but our local newspapers didn’t even honor the speakers by reporting on their discussion. I consider it a badge of honor to be intolerant of prejudice. Do you?

Susan O’Neal

Aspen