Your Opinion: Sign-stealers in Jefferson City

Jenny Smith

Jefferson City

Dear Editor:

There are thieves marauding the community stealing Biden-Harris signs. Somewhere there is a huge pile of stolen signs. Thieves were captured on video driving a red pick-up truck stealing signs on Elmerine Avenue, but thieving is happening all over. From all accounts this is happening all over the state and nation.

Another group is mailing nasty and insulting letters using the "n" word to describe Black people and ranting about abortion. Possibly the same person(s) is leaving a list of gross exaggerations and some outright lies of what they think Democrats stand for. For instance, did you hear that Gates and Soros conspired with the Chinese to cause the pandemic? Or that the goal of the Black Lives Matter movement is to overthrow the government? These are the sort of wild delusions some conservatives bathe in on Breitbart, Rush and Infowars. Where does this hate come from? This material is very racist, insulting and inflammatory. This is the kind of strategy Russian bots use to get citizens angry at one another and divide us.

These criminals obviously spent a great deal of time creating and delivering these hateful notes and cruising neighborhoods to snatch signs. Why? It is not going to change anyone's vote, just makes us more divided. I would listen and consider civil, factual arguments why I should vote for Trump, but thievery, threats and name-calling is childish and will only convince me that they have no integrity or moral compass.

Is this just a few bad apples among a generally law-abiding political party? I guess we'll see if those party faithfuls don't want to be associated with these criminal acts and denounce this unlawful, and hateful behavior. I vow to do the same. Nothing good comes from spreading hate.

Some people can't be civil to others that have a different opinion. What is more disturbing is the vast amount of misinformation and lies that people cling to. One study on Facebook posts found that false information is six times more likely to get shared than the truth.

Please, please people let's get our facts from reliable sources. And if something sounds too outrageous to be true, it probably is not. Let's use the brains God gave us to think before we act and the hearts He gave us to be nice.