Letter writer Michael Rathsack ("Offensive cartoon," Aug. 31) needs to lighten up a little. The Scott Adams "Dilbert" cartoon, which he calls out for "mocking masks," is just that — a cartoon. Rathsack is neither obligated to read it nor to take it as medical advice. It doesn't have the force of a mayoral edict or a governor's order. It's simply Adams, a well-known iconoclast with a strong libertarian streak, pointing out that a mask, as Dr. Anthony Fauci has said, is not the "perfect protection." That Rathsack then argues that we should not find the "Dilbert" cartoon "screaming at us from this paper" because the cartoon "would no longer be allowed on diligent social media sites" is alarming. In a free society, neither the Tribune nor social media sites should be the arbiters of what can and cannot be said publicly about the pandemic or public policy responses to it. Although we have strayed far from our roots, the U.S. is still supposed to be a self-governing republic. Once discussion of differing points of view is prohibited, the prospects for its success disappear. If Rathsack finds "Dilbert" offensive, then the Tribune offers plenty of other choices, from Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott's "Baby Blues" and Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman's "Zits" — both of which are brilliant — to Jim Toomey's "Sherman's Lagoon" and Tim Rickard's "Brewster Rockit."