I wrote a letter to the editor of our local newspaper, and a few days after it appeared in the paper, I got an anonymous, angry, handwritten letter postmarked from Kokomo. I’m sorta proud of my letter, and I thought you’d be amused to see the reply.
I transcribed the hate mail. Everything was spelled right, but she’s fond of underlines and double exclamation points. I say “she,” because my wife said the handwriting looks feminine. After my letter appeared in the paper, my urologist shook my hand and thanked me for pointing these things out. “People just have no idea what has happened.” Boy, was he right.
The writer got her facts wrong about Kerry, and she mistakes free speech for treason. She’s unaware of the Patriot Act. She’s unaware that the president and vice president are completely shielded from those who disagree. One Indianapolis man was arrested for waving a flag as Mr. Bush’s limo drove by. She’s, um, not fond of president Clinton, I guess. Her point #8 nicely sums up her own cluelessness.
Hate mail? I didn’t see any hate there. I saw a lot of stuff that I don’t agree with but what can you do? Maybe your just troubled that a real person took the trouble to pick up a real pen and put it to real paper and put a real stamp on it and walked to the real post box and posted it to your real address.
Would you have been so dissappointed in the same sentiments in an email? On a message board? Pen to paper can have a lot greater effect than electrons on a computer screen. If nothing else it is a sign of the senders strength of belief.
I like “constitutionally God-given right,” because the phrasing makes it sound like God is sub-ordinate to the constitution. “God gave us these rights, but only because it was okay with the Founding Fathers.” Heh. What a putz.
But, I have to agree, it’s not really “hate mail.” It’s just “stupid mail.”
My reaction exactly. What I see is a point-by-point rebuttal of your letter, characterized by far more passion than reason or intelligence, but that passion is not directed at you personally. Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t make it hate mail.
When I was young man, I lived in a country where you could express disapproval or disagreement without it being labeled “hate speech.”
There is something so wickedly cool about getting someone “worked up” enough over something you wrote that they actually respond. Congratulations…keep writing those letters to the editor. You have a flair!
It’s a mystery to me. There was no greeting, no signature, and no return address. It’s especially puzzling how a newspaper reader could have missed the grim facts of the Patriot Act and the stories about General Boykin’s anti-muslim sermons.
Of course he washed up. My urologist is a great guy, and we had discussed politics before. He was born in the middle east, but he’s been a US citizen for a long time.
When a guy reaches an advanced age (I’m 55,) he can tell you his urologist’s name with no hesitation.
