Push back on censorship efforts

Two columns caught my eye on the June 7 Opinion page. The news about Scott Pelley being fired after confronting his boss about the censorship and degradation of 60 Minutes on CBS has been widely reported. This news came on the heels of the report of both Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega leaving the show and the CBS network over pressure to censor aspects of their journalism.

Next to M.M. Dion’s column about censorship of the press was a column by Keith Peterson about the dismantling of an ocean observation program that used deep sea technology to study currents, the global climate and more. The dismantling of the OOI is just the latest example of the Trump administration’s hostility toward science. We are going backward.

Both columns address censorship — of TV journalists and of scientific research. The U.S. has long been the leader in scientific technology and research, but the OOI, like other dismantled research programs, are multinational programs, so other countries are also impacted by Trump’s backward policies.

Censorship of the press, science, history and book banning is encroaching on our daily lives and our ability to learn and progress. The news should not be whitewashed; science must be allowed to present all the facts based on evidence and research. Censorship is never a good thing for a society that wants to advance. Our ignorance is a win for our adversaries. Our young people will not be able to compete on the world stage or advance in the latest technology and knowledge in various fields. We will be seen as a backward country.

We citizens must not tolerate this withholding of knowledge from us. We must push back on Trump and his sycophants’ efforts to “Make America Stupid Again!”

Katy Berman

Arlington Heights