Fury Over the Dallas Police Ambush is Fully Justified

Ruben Navarrett Jr. on Jul 13, 2016

In response, one person wrote: "Your anger is justified, but it's time for light not heat."

I'm all for light. But there is a time for heat. If activists -- no matter what their cause -- didn't believe that, they wouldn't do what they do.

Another person wrote: "You also have a responsibility to tone down the hysteria. These urgent times call upon us to create the space for dialogue and understanding. Demonizing will only get us closer to the abyss."

Now we're getting to what it was about these comments that bothered me. As an opinion writer, I don't have a responsibility to tone down anything. Look around. Do you see many people in my business toning down their rhetoric, on any topic? I don't.

So I wrote back:

"Hear me now. I am not your priest. I am not your mayor. I am not your leader. I am not your social worker. I am not your teacher. I am a JOURNALIST -- an OPINION journalist, in fact, whose job is to challenge you and everyone else, on the right/left/center to confront things you don't want to confront."

One thing I must confront is unfair expectations. As the son of a retired cop, it's not up to me to create a space to understand cop killers.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.