Letters to the Editor
WhoNvitedHim
Published Letters: 120 Editor's Choice: 16
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Lots of Garbage Floating Down Denial Today
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I wanted to write some whiny-ass diatribe questioning why Salon wouldn't let Heather write about the Olympics, and I may yet. But I'm much more annoyed at the breathtakingly stupid letters mailed in reference to the "Black. White." show (which I have not watched), so much so that I want to address a few of these:
Racism may very well "cut both ways", jb, and I don't doubt my ability to draw unfriendly stares should I choose to stroll my lilly-white ass through the streets of a big city black neighborhood, but your own cuts--and those tiny little cuts suffered by your boyfriend--look self-inflicted to me, and they don't appear to be all that numerous or bloody relative to those inflicted by white society on blacks in this country over the past 300 years.
Dear Conrad Spoke, I feel really badly that Heather was unable to provide you with your weekly ration of wit, but as someone else who grew up in the South I can tell you that the deference and sensitivity she shows in her approach to this topic completely dwarf yours, you little dwarf. For one thing, I don't really believe you have the street cred to be using the n-word, even inside scare quotes. Your belief that we should throw people away once they are convicted of even the most minor felony aligns well with our zero-tolerance legal system, but be aware that Martha Stewart now has a new line of furniture available at K-Mart.
And for the record, min, no, you most likely are not the only one who thinks the offense taken to "beautiful creature" remark is patently ridiculous, but you display a remarkable lack of self-awareness by choosing to say so in this thread.
In fact, if Heather were looking for suitable evidence to help make her point, y'all's three troll-bait letters (haha, got me to bite!) seem almost tailor-made.
Go, Heather!
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Rosie's War on Christmas
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One of the best contemporary holiday songs around is Robert Earl Keen's "Merry Christmas from the Family", an ode to the power of quirky, dysfunctional, blended families everywhere. On "A Very Rosie Christmas" (or "A Very Rosie Christmas, Too", I don't recall which) Rosie O'Donnell, with the help of The Dixie Chicks--who are not so much accomplices as victims in this sorry affair--completely sodomizes this wonderful song and then, if only figuratively, leaves it to lay dying in a Brazilian slum.
I raise this matter only to suggest that it is not necessarily the songs themselves that are so awful (otherwise, they wouldn't have become trite and cliche to begin with), it is Rosie herself who has the creepy power to suck the life out of an otherwise beautifully-penned ditty like the Gilligan's Island theme.
Anyway, what happened to the days when I could count on all of the answers on your quizzes to be "c"?
I totally flunked!
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Do the Math: 14 Prohibited Acts Trumps 7 Deadly Sins
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It seems to me that when Ms. Havrilesky was over at Suck.com being Polly Esther, she attracted a somewhat more civil (and far more entertaining) pool of readers. To me, the juvenile sarcasm (and marriage proposals) of self-absorbed, twenty-something, bohemian hipsters is far more entertaining to read than the incessant whining of indignant yuppies who seem to think that paying a paltry $30 entitles them to personalized content. And in any event, when faced with the chronically self-righteous, Polly could just rip someone a new asshole.
That said, I am somewhat more sympathetic to the "I'm paying for this shit!" argument than to the astonishing proposition that "God likes the muslims better than the Americans because muslims avoid fornication". The only pubishable reply I can mount to this "argument" is: hahahahahahaha!
I take it back: muslim self-righteousness runs hip self-absorbtion a pretty close race. In any event, I took the trouble of Googling "Hamid Rasool" and read some of your other "work". I'm not a fan of domestic spying or the Patriot Act, but, dude! I'm not sure it will bug me much when you attract a little visit from Homeland Security. By the way, I loved your post over on pandragon.net about the fourteen prohibited acts and the left shoulder/right shoulder angel thing: highly informative.
No, Heather doesn't hit a home run every at bat, but she definitely hit one out of the park this week. While the chances of me watching a show about a neurotic psychiatrist are approximately nil, Ms. Havrilesky's ability to relate inane television programming and Catholic deprogramming to my exact circumstances continues to draw me in, week after week, and year after year. Much to her own chagrin, I'm sure.
For awhile there, I longed for the days of Salon "classic", but I don't anymore. I find good writing here every week, and "I Like to Watch" stands toe-to-toe with anything that Salon has to offer.
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How wude!
[Read the article: Colbert: Not just a flop, but "rude" and "a bully" too]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The funniest thing I saw was over on Foxnexs, where Steve Doocy tells a little story about how him and the wife just tootled up for the big Correspondents Dinner shindig. In his tale the dual-W act was just so priceless and special that Colbert couldn't help but bomb.
He writes "I have been to this event many times over the past 20 years, and it was without a doubt, the best performance EVER by a real president."
Of course he goes on to heap Fox scorn on Colbert for "crossing the line", but the funny thing was the folksy, suburban working class, "We loaded up the station wagon and drove down I-95 to Washington, D.C.," way he tells it. He's not part of any media elite!
I think Stephen shook them up good. By bringing a large, unrepresented constituency of Americans into one of the most sickening of Washington rituals, he served notice. Watching and listening to their response, as it continues to unfold, shows they heard him and that they fear the truth--and the truthiness--of his message.
Do they even still make station wagons?