Accident? Spare me!

For an action not to be accidental, it must be intentional, but if our intentions don't matter--only our actions--then those actions have to be accidents, don't they? What is one supposed to do with words that sound soul-searching but which come from a person who expresses doubt about the very existence of a soul and who denies value to thinking that is morally contemplative? Whose best advice in the face of cultural seismography is "get yourself a gun and have another cocktail"? Settle in for the binge-watching of artfully filmed violence, I guess. At what point do things cease to be "accidental" if it was an accident that started everything? Nothing comes out of nothing; action does not proceed from a vacuum. A Big Bang does not just "happen."

If the minuscule scrabbling about of vermin on the surface of an unimportant globe are not meaningless and accidental, then why should it be thought that the massive gravitational forces that play upon that globe are? Nobody knows what gravity "is" or how it works but that shouldn't suggest insignificance. People who have no problem with the idea that a week of cloudy weather affects your mood want you to think that the gas giants huddling on one side of the solar system for months on end don't do anything important. As Galileo might have said, Risparmiami!

Jupiter radiates more energy than it receives from the sun. We are not obliged to accept the largely nonsensical dicta of modern astrology in order to assert that the planets of our system affect us materially or that the stars are our destination. Keeping in mind, of course, that it is precisely those truths of which we are most dismissive which will catch us most off-guard.

STANLEY G. JOHNSON

Little Rock

Supporting freedom

To me, Democratic socialism is freedom. Economic freedom. And democratic freedom.

When you don't have to worry about going into debt thousands of dollars to be treated for chronic illness or even having to come up with $50-$100 in co-pays and more for deductibles to go to the doctor and are able to afford medication so a cold doesn't turn into something worse, you have more freedom. When you don't have to worry about losing your health insurance when you want to change jobs, you have more freedom.

When you don't have to go into tens of thousands of dollars in debt to get a higher education, you have more freedom. If you're in a union and don't have to choose between better health care or higher pay, you have more freedom. If you don't have to work two to three jobs on starvation wages and still have to go to food banks, you have more freedom.

When a black or Hispanic person doesn't have to worry about being stopped by police just because of the color of their skin, you have more freedom. When children and babies are not being snatched away from their moms and dads and tossed into cages just because their parents want a better life for their family, you have more freedom.

When you don't have to worry about being able to afford a decent home for you and your family, you have more freedom. Freedom to have more time with your family and friends. Freedom to go on vacations. Freedom to have more time to participate in democracy by voting or running for office.

This is why I now consider myself a Democratic socialist: because I support freedom.

PATRICK GRAY

Searcy

Part of the package

My husband Ted and I have a morning ritual, especially since our retirement.

He gets up, goes outside and gets the newspaper. Since its coming demise, he says, "news is news," but without the rustle of that paper. The feel, the smell--it's all part of the package.

He's almost having withdrawal pains! I'm just about past (92) writing my little opinion pieces, but I do want to thank you. (Gulp.) It's been fun.

TED and CLARA FIELDS

Bentonville

End death penalty

We are the only developed nation that continues to use the death penalty, and it's time for us to stop. Supporters of the death penalty will tell you it is impossible to deter crime or ensure justice without it. Don't let them deceive you--the death penalty does not deter crime, nor is it just. Our justice system is as fallible as the people who compose it, and many errors have been made in cases involving the death penalty.

Take for instance the recent case of Ledell Lee, who Arkansas executed in 2017 for the 1993 murder of Debra Reese. Nearly three years after his execution, new forensic testing is being done that could exonerate him. Nationally recognized forensic experts have criticized the state's forensics, saying that photo lineups were biased and eyewitness misidentification was possible. The state's shoe-print identification expert only received a single week of unsupervised training and his analysis failed to meet national standards. Five fingerprints were found at the scene and determined to not belong to Lee, yet have never been run through a criminal database. Today's DNA testing is much more powerful than that during the trial. Lee's lawyer was visibly drunk in court and unable to adequately represent him.

New testing might reveal the worst: that Arkansas executed an innocent person. Perhaps it will confirm Lee's guilt. Even so, I am deeply concerned that a trial with this many mistakes could happen, and could involve an innocent defendant with inadequate counsel. It is possible: At least 156 people have been sentenced to death and exonerated since 1976. Like most Arkansans, I believe that life is sacred. Even the possibility of an innocent person being executed is enough to convince me that it is time to abandon the death penalty.

ZACHARY RENFRO

Fayetteville

Editorial on 03/04/2020

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Supporting freedom; part of the package; end death penalty - NWAOnline