Dear editor,
Re: There’s a difference between ‘voting’ and ‘electoral systems’ (Letter to the editor, Jan. 4)
I looked all over for it. I looked in all the dictionaries I have at home and I have quite a few. I looked at various online dictionaries. I even looked in the Oxford English Dictionary, which is considered the source for all things word-related in the English language.
But I can’t find it.
The distinction that Geoffrey Donaldson draws between “voting system” and “electoral system” may be correct, but I can’t confirm it. So, I ask Mr. Donaldson, what is your source? This is the same question I mutter when I read many of Tom Fletcher’s columns in the Record.
This is not a frivolous question, especially in this era when so much information is available from social media sources. This is an era when some writers seem not at all concerned with the line between well-researched journalism and smear campaigns, with the line between fact and fiction.
While much of the responsibility for separating fact from fiction rests with journalists and their publishers, readers bear a great deal of responsibility in this respect as well. For example, readers must recognize that Facebook is not a reliable source for news. Entertainment, yes; reliable information, no.
Readers must sift through the onslaught of information that bludgeons us daily. Readers must be discerning critical thinkers who regularly ask, “What’s your source?”
Pat Carl,
Comox