Do AZ newspapers encourage irrational thought?

It seems to me that anyone who reads the Arizona Republic or the East Valley Tribune opinion pages can't do so without at some point wondering "why did they print this letter or column?" It is becoming alarming the extent to which these important news sources are printing comments that (a) have no facutal basis; (b) no sense of rational thought; or (c) filled with hatred for anyone who has a different opinion from the conservative rants of the editorial boards.

For example, in today's (29 Nov 2005) East Valley Tribune, the published a "vent" in which the "venter" stated:

"You Bush-haters, get a life. What was Bush supposed to do after 9/11...nothing?"

Well, for one thing he could have focused on getting Bin Laden in Afghanistan... But that's another post.

The Arizona Republic chose to publish a letter over the weekend calling the Democrats liars and included the following analogy:

"Young school children who, under the leadership of their class president, agree to do something about the school bully who all agree is a threat to them and other students. But when the agreed upon action doesn't go as smoothly as planned, some of the children see an opportunity to get elected to class offices and start a smear campaign against the class president, saying "he lied about the bully." And, like children, they continue to repeat the smear even though there is no solid evidence to support it."

This analogy leaves out one critical point: the "class president" is the person who convinced the "schoolchildren" the "bully" was "a threat." Inserting that inconvenient fact causes this analogy to fall apart as quickly as has the Bush administration’s hyperbolic lead-up to the war in Iraq.

Printing things that support the hype and ignore the truth is, in my opinion, the biggest threat to our way of life and to our country. It would be nice if the newspapers didn't encourage irrational and fact-less thinking in the public by publishing things that are clearly intended to excite the crowd. We don't need an emotional electorate, we need a thoughtful one. So do Arizona's newspapers encourage irrational thought? If it walks like a duck...