Your Opinion: Words can be used to bully, threaten

Dear Editor:

Do words matter? What is the Bible or Koran but a bunch of words? You can actually count the number of each depending on the version. Should that matter? Yet how much ridicule have politicians directed at laws they do not like. Thousands of words and hundreds of pages. Must be something wrong.

In the movie "Amadeus" Mozart asks his benefactor what he thought of the performance of "The Magic Flute." The nobleman is prompted by his musical advisor that the work is good but there are "too many notes." Well, where would you cut out the notes. And so forth. It's a dumb discussion that amplifies current American life.

There was another Republican debate last week. So many words and so little meaning. True believers were thrilled while the rest of us were made weary. I don't get it.

The words are one thing but the anger is what I really do not get. Interject a simple question to a conservative on Facebook and see what you get. The anger and hatred will be staggering. Liberals can be dismissive and off putting but generally they will not display the loathing that comes with a simple query.

Should climate scientists who report their findings be subject to death threats? Think of the MU faculty member who displayed poor judgment in trying to shelter black students recently protesting the structural prejudice at MU. One hundred Republican legislators have decided to become college administrators and call for her firing. I think that professor acted incorrectly but I believe she was trying to protect protesting students. I say that because fellow citizens would be trying to identify those students and intimidate them with words. Words that could include death threats.

Just 12 years ago Elson Floyd was the first African American hired at MU as president. He received so many death threats to him and his family that the University had to devise new means of protecting him and his family. Were those threats "free speech"? Two Missouri students after the recent events have been charged with making anonymous threats towards black MU students.

Liberals think that with words and a reasonable debate we can create order in the universe. Currently it seems conservative activists think they can use words to bludgeon and bully the public into submission. Trump and Cruz use such bully words. No wonder they lead the Republican pack.