close

LETTER: Ball column ‘a literary horror show’

3 min read
article image -

From the moment I view the ominous grin of the photo that is paired with any Dave Ball column I begin to spy the set up. But that is only the beginning of a literary horror show. By the end of the first few paragraphs if you are not utterly shuddering in fear you have missed his whole point.

The supposed point of these political rhetoric horror show columns is to get you to embrace his viewpoint and be saved from the political monsters he claims are lurking in our present and future.

But like most horror tales we view and read the trick of it all is in the gimmicks used to try and instill fear. And the need is for the audience to suspend disbelief and buy into improbable allegations and outright misrepresentations.

That is where Mr. Ball’s tales begin to fall apart. Ball has appointed himself as the newspaper’s resident political psychiatrist and as such offers a medical evaluation of a presidential candidate without any supporting evidence toward his diagnosis. That is a dangerous premise for Ball to present and any newspaper to allow.

Things only deteriorate from there. The scenes Ball depicts require the reader to simply forget recent documented history. The candidate who draws Ball’s ire is Joe Biden. Biden served as the U.S. vice president from 2008 through the 2016 election. That presidential administration was very successful and none of the Ball-described horror scenes occurred.

We are currently living through a live and in color horror show largely enabled by the lack of action and deep denial of Ball’s beloved candidate, Donald J. Trump. Is it possible Ball’s scare columns are simply a page from the Republican playbook to offer a diversion from a reality that presents their guy Trump in a highly unflattering light?

Perhaps the real contrast for voters in November is whether we want to cast our lot with a candidate in Biden with a life history of experience and success, or a guy in Trump who miserably failed at the one task we needed him to perform and not lie about.

We live today with the results of that failure and we have no idea how long this very real horror show will last. Ball failed at his attempt to scare me, but the thought of a continuing Trump administration should be truly frightening to the American public.

C.F. Dotson

Washington

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $3.75/week.

Subscribe Today