I’ve vented already against a letter to the editor published in my local newspaper; the writer labeled a liberal columnist as a traitor for trying to push his lefty ideas on Texas Panhandle conservatives.

I’ll leave that topic alone in this post.

However, I do want to discuss another subject raised in the fellow’s note. It involves whether we should be subjected to differing points of view.

The gentleman doesn’t like reading liberals’ world view.

It reminds me somewhat of a letter I received from a Perryton resident, who wrote me to complain about all that liberal “crap” he was reading in the paper. He didn’t want any part of it. I answered the fellow in a column in which I extolled the virtues of diversity.

The world is big and varied and full of ideas that don’t comport with our own. Whether we lean left or right and tack right down the middle, we are exposed daily to points of view that are counter to our own set of values.

Does reading, hearing or watching someone extol those ideas change our mind? Are we so malleable that we cannot stand by our own beliefs without fear of being tempted beyond our ideological strength?

I think not.

That’s why it’s important for us to expose ourselves to others’ views. I do it all the time. Lord knows I hear from friends and acquaintances who have views that differ from my own. Many of them over the years have tried to persuade me to change my mind, to go over to their way of thinking. My answer usually goes something like this: “I’ll change my mind the moment you change yours.”

The U.S. Constitution spells out in its very first amendment that the press shall be free of government interference. That means the media are free to publish or broadcast points of view that cover a vast range of opinions. We should honor that. We should allow — if not encourage — our fellow Americans to speak their mind.

Narrow-mindedness is a nasty trait to possess.

What’s more, who among us wants to be fed the same slice of ideological baloney just because it fits our own view of the world?

We’d be bored to sleep. As I’ve always noted, reading thoughts that oppose your own gets your heart pumping. It is good for your health.