I am appalled at the notoriety that Wayne Cook seems to be achieving through his one-man letter-writing campaign to the West Central Tribune. Trying to will your own personal morality on the public can be a fascinating, attention-grabbing subject.
What does he hope to achieve by threatening to cancel his newspaper advertising because of one questionable photo? Even if this dubious threat were to work, is he really na?ve enough to think that by censoring one local newspaper the threat is removed? The same photo of Lindsay Lohan ran in newspapers across the country.
Trying to shield your children (or others) from these images by attempting to censor the local newspaper is a losing proposition. No matter how much you protect them from an image such as this, they will be exposed to these pictures regularly... whether at school, on the Internet, in magazines, on television, in movies, or in person (with others dressing the same way). Whether the Tribune publishes an image that is questionable in Cook's eyes, children will be exposed to these images. Period.
Instead of trying to control what your child sees, reads, and hears, why not take that very same image and talk to your child about it? Show them the image, and tell them how you feel -- or better yet, ask them how they feel about it. Turn it into a positive. They will be exposed to these pictures at some point in their lives no matter what a parent does.Isn't it better to have a dialogue with them now and discuss their feelings rather than try in vain to protect what they see?
Trying to control what a child is exposed to is a no-win proposition. Talking to your child about what they will inevitably see is a winning one.
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And, Pastor Cook, the issues of sexual addiction and the victimization of women (Public Forum letter, Jan. 11) are problems much greater than the effect that one photo in the local newspaper can have on anyone.
My hide has been chapped as well by Cook's continuing morality play.
David Schlosser
Northfield
