News Intelligence Analysis
Christianity Today, Week of June 20
Readers Write
Chuck Colson, Deep Throat,
Marijuana, and yoga topped readers' concerns last week.
posted 06/20/2005 09:00 a.m.
Colson on Deep Throat
posted 06/03/2005
Charles Colson's statements in CT regarding W. Mark Felt's identity
as Deep Throat are an interesting example of argumentum ad
populum, a style of argumentation which appeals to the assumed
prejudices of the reader, rather than focusing on the merits
of the case. By using hot button words such as relativism and
postmodernism, he deflects the reader's attention away from the
degree of corruption present in the Nixon White House, which
would have made it nearly impossible for Mr. Felt to have done
what Mr. Colson thinks would have been the 'honorable' thing
to do, namely to go to the director of the FBI. It should be
noted that the White House took actions to interfere with the
FBI's investigations. If Mr. Felt had gone to his superior with
his concerns, I do think that such action would have sparked
"an immediate crisis," but not the kind that Mr. Colson
suggests. I suspect Mr. Felt's position would have been in jeopardy,
not the Nixon administration. We Christians should judge Mr Felt's
actions only if we place those actions in historical context,
a context marked by political corruption at the highest levels
of government.
Kathryn Lee
Colson on Deep Throat
I think it is shameful that Charles Colson is still trying to justify his actions. Charles Colson has no moral right to comment on these matters, and your magazine should not support him in his self-righteous justification. Had it not been for people like Charles Colson, Felt might not have had to take the actions that he did.
William Loeffler
Colson on Deep Throat
Colson's remarks regarding Mark Felt's culpability (or not) for the choices he made in leaking information to Woodward and Bernstein sound just a bit like the self-justification he condemns in Felt. Suggesting that the Nixon White House would have acted honorably, even out of 'self-interest', is rewriting much of what was going on in those dark days for our country.
Ed Brown
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