Letters to the Editor

Letter: Beyond the pale

I write to draw attention to, and condemn, the social media misconduct of the state representative from District 10, David Eastman. Throughout this pandemic, Rep. Eastman’s official page has been a farrago of misinformation about public health and about the integrity of the American electoral system, growing increasingly detached from reality with each passing day.

What genuinely surprised me was Rep. Eastman’s recent posting of a picture of, and a quote by, former German Reichskanzler and Fuhrer Adolf Hitler (1933-1945). The post also included a link to a website hosting the full content of the Hitler speech that Rep. Eastman thought it was advisable to quote. This website is an overt shrine to Holocaust denial and white supremacy; its author, one Carolyn Yeager, has also written and posted there articles with such wholesome headlines as “The Holocaust scam continues to be the No. 1 identity factor for American Jews and “Blacks put police at risk by aiding and abetting crime in their neighborhoods.” It is clear from the context of his post that Rep. Eastman is more than passingly familiar with both the complete works of Herr Hitler and the website of Ms. Yeager.

Rep. Eastman’s conduct is distasteful to me not only as a Jewish American, but as a fellow alumni of the United States Military Academy and as a fellow former officer in the United States Army. Rep. Eastman’s conduct is deeply incompatible with the cherished values of our alma mater, the Army in which we served together, and of this great republic. He merits all the public censure that civilized folk can bring to bear: from his fellow legislators, from his fellow alumni and, above all, from his fellow citizens.

— Ivan Hodes

Anchorage

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