WHY LETTERS TO SIMCOE.COM ARE STILL IMPORTANT

It's about trust. Our relationship with our readers is built on transparency, honesty and integrity. As such, we have launched a trust initiative to tell you who we are and how and why we do what we do. This column is part of that project.

Dear Simcoe County, Barrie and Orilllia. We love it when you write to us. More than that, we think it is important to the health of our community.

Yes, you can publish your opinions. Everyone, everywhere, has access to easy-to-use, free social media platforms where your opinions on everything from climate change to local politics can be shared with the world.

Except, for most, you are really only sharing with friends and family who follow you. And even if you have expanded your reach beyond your intimate circle, your followers are still likely to look and think a lot like you do.

One of the many problems with social media is that it entrenches our confirmation bias. By reading mostly what is on our feed, we see what we want to see. We read what we want to read. If your views are liberal, you will follow people with similar views and they will follow you. If you have a conservative perspective, then your feed is most likely to feature that point of view.

We are all preaching to the converted.

And it's not serving us individually or collectively.

A letter to the editor, linked to stories on the topic and other letters that may or may not agree with yours, is sure to reach the people who may not agree with you, yet.

It gives you the opportunity to convince others, sway them to your point of view, and to create a conversation. The kind of open discussion that is necessary to true democracy and is effectively silenced in a cacophony of everyone yelling into the void of their own small clique.

Want to highlight a problem you see in government, at any level? You are certain to have the ear of politicians when you pen a letter to the editor. Staff comb our pages for any mention of their department or initiatives or projects.

We feel giving you a public voice beyond your social media feed is essential to democracy and a healthy community newspaper. We know some are reluctant to write in, for fear of the negativity they might have to face on social media. It's because of this we honour any request we receive to shut commenting off on the letters you send.