Our View: Racist comments have no place

It was the Snapchat heard around the world, or at least the part of the globe where most of our readers live and work.

A tossed off conversation between teenage boys on social media, packed with racist comments that they apparently thought were somehow cool, or funny.

They were neither. They were appalling.

But anyone who sent messages threatening to harm the boys should also be ashamed. Threatening the writers isn’t going to make them better people … and that’s the goal, isn’t it?

In some cases — i.e., a Facebook conversation between adults we observed — it seemed that racism begat racism.

That is also wrong.

While it’s easy to point fingers and think that those teenagers are the exception, school officials also got it right when they publicly noted that the schools “share responsibility in shaping the character of our students.”

So does the community, both here and across the country. There’s no doubt that children will follow the example of their elders. They repeat what they hear in the locker room, at home, and in political debates.

The elevation of rudeness, untruthfulness and outyelling one’s opponent as something to be proud of should have no place in any society. We need to relearn communicating respectfully with one another as well as respect for others — personally, online and at public meetings — and there’s no time to waste.

Thumbs up, thumbs down

Thumbs up to the appointment of Jesse Buhs as the new Cloquet Area Fire District chief. After paying for two nationwide searches that resulted in the hire of someone who was a battalion chief up the road, it seemed strange that CAFD board members would not have chosen someone from within our own ranks, who knows the district well already. Now they have. Let’s hope it means the board and district administration will better be able to focus on making sure our firefighters and EMTs have the resources they require so they can be there for everyone else when needed.

Thumbs down to various aquifer breaches by Enbridge Line 3 workers. The pipeline project touted itself as being the environmentally responsible way to go, but these are not the first Minnesota waters to be impacted during the construction process. Enbridge spent and stands to make more money than most of us can imagine getting the new Line 3 into the ground, so their officials need to be better stewards now that it’s there.

Thumbs up to declining Covid-19 cases and, better yet, deaths. It’s nice to let our guard down for a while and enjoy each other’s company. Let’s all agree to do everything we can to keep it going, such as getting vaccinated and staying home when you don’t feel well.

Thumbs up to spring and all its messes, and birds, and grumpy bears. Speaking of birds and grumpy bears, now is a very good time to bring in the bird feeders and make sure your garbage and compost bins are well-secured. You wouldn’t want a bear bringing its own April Fool’s Day surprise to you. As we learned last year, bears will definitely move into town if there’s easy access to snacks, especially when they’re hungry.