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In April 2021, a purported letter to the editor from a newspaper was shared on Facebook. The letter, titled What has America become?, was credited to Ken Huber from Tawas City, Michigan. It appeared in a Facebook meme with the words: This is from a small Michigan newspaper who had the guts to say what most of the rest of us are thinking!! This was a real letter to the editor. Readers who might have given it a quick glance on Facebook in 2021 may have left with the impression that it was new. However, it was first published in 2010. Part of the letter included references to former U.S. Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, with the former in the White House at the time of its original publishing. We've received inquiries about the letter for a number of years. The originally printed name was Ken Huber in the Iosco County News-Herald. However, we've also seen variations online in which the name was changed to Ted Huber, Ken Huber, and Kwen Huber. Tawas City, which was mentioned as Huber's place of residence, is located in Iosco County, Michigan. We also found What has America become? was published in newspapers in Louisiana as far back as July 7, 2010. All of the newspaper reprints included the name Ken Huber. The variations appeared to only appear on the internet. The letter read as follows: We don't know who this Ken Huber is, however, we can see this letter used a number of odd comparisons. It didn't provide any evidence to support its claims in a classic appeal to emotion. Readers may be reminded of the term logical fallacy, which is best defined as an error in reasoning with a conclusion that does not follow the subject preceding it. The dated letter has spawned a number of responses and a bit of discussion over the years. It was also reprinted on blogs as far back as July 2010. In sum, it's true that a 2010 letter to the editor asking What has America become? was credited to Ken Huber.
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