I thank Lawrence Kaplan (“Pull back the curtain on Graham Platner,” Letters, April 22) for illustrating a popular yet shallow attack on Graham Platner’s candidacy.

Kaplan enumerates Platner’s faults based solely on trite headlines from the media machine. He joins the chorus of those yelling about Reddit posts and tattoos while demonstrating an unwillingness to question why so many Mainers see something more complex and nuanced in Platner than what drives clicks on the Internet. Citizenship demands more of us. 

Platner skeptics owe it to themselves to go deeper than clickbait headlines and go right to the source. Platner has endeavored to make himself available all across Maine, already demonstrating a needed change from our current congressional representatives. Kaplan disparages 5- to 10-second political ads. Why not hear Platner’s pitch directly and see for himself?

To their credit, journalists have been trying to capture the experience of witnessing a generational talent who stirs hearts and minds when he calls rooms of citizens to dare dream of something better. But the truth is, even in (especially in) this day and age of constant information, we can’t make a call about whom to trust without experiencing them in real life. 

I urge all Mainers to go listen to Platner in person and engage directly in the democratic process rather than outsourcing political information gathering to the consumer media. They might finally see what is inspiring their fellow citizens who dare to hope for different politics. 

Katherine Johnston
Hallowell