Disagree with Sounder editorial | Letter

In the November 5 issue of Islands’ Sounder, two editorials regarding sexual misconduct by a high school teacher were printed. The one article, credited to three high school seniors of The Viking Voice, was tempered with compassion and respect for all those involved in the situation. It calls for restraint from judgement and blame, as well as calls for the use of right speech in discussing the situation in our community.

In the November 5 issue of Islands’ Sounder, two editorials regarding sexual misconduct by a high school teacher were printed. The one article, credited to three high school seniors of The Viking Voice, was tempered with compassion and respect for all those involved in the situation. It calls for restraint from judgement and blame, as well as calls for the use of right speech in discussing the situation in our community.

Their editorial rightly reminds us all that the subjects of our interest are real people living among us with families, as well as imperfections. Everyone involved deserves the right to a space and process for their indiscretions, which includes privacy as well as access to the justice system. The authors realize the damage and pain caused in dealing out assumptions and shame about a case that has yet gone to trial.

Your editorial, although claiming to look deeper into the topic, degrades into a black and white view of a story that’s complicated, nuanced and personal. It ends with an inflammatory and inappropriately applied label of “predator” to someone not yet convicted.  In looking  into the legal definition of “predator,” I found that predator is someone that has been convicted in court, who has committed predatory acts in the past and is likely to commit them again.  In legal and medical use it describes someone convicted of a sexually violent offence and who suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes him or her likely to engage in sexually violent offenses again.  You’ve chosen to make up your own standards of what a predator is and come to conclude that “the law agrees.”

In their own words, the high school seniors “chose not to write an article highlighting specifics of the case, rather, to discuss the importance of respect and support.” It would have been nice if you followed the example of our high school seniors and their well articulated, balanced, and compassionate article printed in the same paper.

Christopher Evans

Eastsound