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| - For years, internet users have shared a lengthy letter about what it supposedly means to be "a liberal," attributing the words to director Ron Howard.
The letter, which is around 1,300 words, began as follows:
I'm a liberal, but that doesn't mean what a lot of you apparently think it does. Let's break it down, shall we? Because quite frankly, I'm getting a little tired of being told what I believe and what I stand for. Spoiler alert: not every liberal is the same, though the majority of liberals I know think along roughly these same lines:
The remainder of the letter consists of 16 numbered points describing the author's beliefs.
Various
(Facebook user Dan Walters
As we reported when we first looked into the text's origins in 2020, Howard was not the real author of the letter. Instead, the words were the work of novelist Lori Gallagher Witt. As a result, we rated the letter as misattributed.
Witt first posted the letter on her Facebook (archived) and Tumblr (archived) accounts on Jan. 7, 2018. A screenshot of her original Facebook post is below. (Due to the letter's length, we split the screenshot into two roughly equal halves that appear side by side.)
(Lori Gallagher Witt)
Witt's original letter included a longer introduction than the version that circulated
An open letter to friends and family who are/were shocked to discover I'm a liberal...
This is going to be VERY long, so: TL;DR: I'm a liberal, I've always been a liberal, but that doesn't mean what a lot of you apparently think it does.
Some of you suspected. Some of you were shocked. Many of you have known me for years, even the majority of my life. We either steadfastly avoided political topics, or I carefully steered conversations away from the more incendiary subjects in the name of keeping the peace. "I'm a liberal" isn't really something you broadcast in social circles where "the liberals" can't be said without wrinkling one's nose.
But then the 2016 election happened, and staying quiet wasn't an option anymore. Since then, I've received no shortage of emails and comments from people who were shocked, horrified, disappointed, disgusted, or otherwise displeased to realize I am *wrinkles nose* a liberal. Yep. I'm one of those bleeding heart commies who hates anyone who's white, straight, or conservative, and who wants the government to dictate everything you do while taking your money and giving it to people who don't work.
Or am I?
Let's break it down, shall we? Because quite frankly, I'm getting a little tired of being told what I believe and what I stand for. Spoiler alert: Not every liberal is the same, though the majority of liberals I know think along roughly these same lines.
The Facebook post's edit history showed that on Feb. 2, 2018, around a month after she originally published the letter, Witt added a notice reading "(c) 2018 Lori Gallagher Witt. Feel free to share, but please give me credit, and if you add or change anything, please note accordingly." A similar notice also appeared at the bottom of her Tumblr post.
In an email to Snopes in February 2025, Witt said she was inspired to write the letter not because of a single event but because she believed her social circle did not understand her beliefs. She said:
It had been brewing in my head for a while, especially because I have/had a lot of conservative friends and relatives who would often parrot things about "those liberals." There was a lot of comments about how we "hate America," we're communists, we want to destroy everything, etc. It was this really vile and disingenuous picture of who and what we are, and I felt the need to set the record straight. I genuinely had no idea it would resonate with that many people or that it would go viral.
How the misattribution spread
The letter's misattribution to Howard began in 2020, when, as Witt explained in a Facebook post, an individual with the name "Ron Howard" — no relation to the director — shared her post without attribution. That individual eventually corrected his post to note Witt as the text's author after she reached out to him. But by that point, other internet users had already begun sharing the letter with the name "Ron Howard" attached.
Since then, Witt has posted numerous times about her frustration with the persistence of the misattribution, which she has dubbed "the Howarding."
As of this writing, readers have shared Witt's original 2018 Facebook post around 30,000 times. By contrast, a Feb. 9, 2025, post that incorrectly attributes the words to Howard has amassed around
Witt said although Howard was by far the person she's most frequently seen miscredited with the letter's authorship, she's experienced other individuals attempting to take credit for — and even make money off — her words in the past. "I could live with a post going viral and getting separated from my name, but I draw the line when people try to monetize it or otherwise use it to elevate themselves," she said.
Witt also said she believed
We've previously looked into other claims involving Howard. They included a rumor that a clip from the television show "Arrested Development" in which he appeared was proof the 1969 moon landing was fake.
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