Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 260 Editor's Choice: 22
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Pull your head out of the sand Pelosi!
[Read the article: Bush and Cheney's tortured secrecy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I’m not sure what the Democratic leadership is waiting for but it’s time to impeach. I know that some Dems and Salon-nics have tried to argue that we couldn’t muster the votes or shouldn’t use our political capital in that way—but I think that’s an egregious cop-out. Whether or not the impeachment passes the Congress or the Senate is not the point. There is sufficient evidence that Bush/Cheney have committed impeachable offences and that is enough go ahead with it.
I don’t see how we can justify subjecting Clinton to the humiliation of an impeachment hearing for lying about screwing one person and then give this junta a pass over screwing the whole country.
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Danke Ruben
[Read the article: Tom the Dancing Bug]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I too know the cruel sting of weltschmertze and the ameliorative properties that only Die Loops Von Froot can bring when the tit of mother happiness has run dry.
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...And Salon is from Pluto
[Read the article: Hillary is from Mars, Obama is from Venus]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Was it really necessary to rip Obama’s nuts off and pin em’ on Hillary to make a simple point that they have different temperaments and leadership styles?
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Bush's Catawampus Moral Compas
[Read the article: It's finally time for Bush to answer questions about Libby]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Conason Said: “Why then has the president failed to apologize to them on behalf of himself, his staff and the government of the United States?”
Why? Because he doesn’t think he’s done anything wrong. In fact I’d be willing to bet that he even thinks that he’s done something noble! Bush’s evangelical conviction combined with his lack of geopolitical savvy act like a big magnet that throws his moral compass completely off kilter.
Presidents lie and engage in shady activities all the time- but they don’t generally fool themselves into thinking that they didn’t do something naughty. However, in this case I think we have to face the fact that perhaps, for the first time in history, we have a President whose moral compass is so skewed that he doesn’t know right from wrong.
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A letter in need of an editor
[Read the article: Let us now praise editors]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks for the fine article on editing Gary. I think you are an excellent writer and a very good editor. I’d love to see some of your magic wear off on some of the other editors at Salon.
I think one of the most important tasks of an editor is deciding which content is suitable for the readership— something that Salon has not been necessarily excelling at recently. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that the majority of premium subscribers like myself, log into Salon to get away from the maddening din of the mainstream media. If I want the latest news on Paris Hilton’s incarceration woes or to participate in the international hand wringing fest over the fate of Harry Potter then there are literally thousands of other media outlets that are covering those trenchant topics ad nauseum. I personally think it’s pretty annoying to wake up to Salon articles that are pandering to the same puerile shtick that all the other noise machines are yammering on about that day.
Another job of the editor is to weed out the writing that does not reflect the aesthetic or philosophical mindset of your readership. This does not mean that we shouldn’t be given contrarian or differing views—just that those views should be tempered by reason, critical thinking and sound scholarship. Case in point: whether or not you agree or disagree with Joe Conason or Glenn Greenwald, you know that you're dealing with heavyweights when you read them. They back up what they say and exhibit the restraint and authority one expects from professional journalism.
On the other hand, Salon has Camille Paglia, a writer that the majority of Salon readers have shown contempt for by repeatedly and mercilessly excoriating in the letters to the editor. Paglia is a writer that throws ten-dollar academic terms around to cover up the vacuousness of her thinking, lacks the critical thinking skills to be considered a serious journalist (or philosopher) and whose writing is a paean to personal prejudice. Salon once referred to her as “Our fave pop philosopher”; and epitaph that I hope to never see in print again.
To keep a writer like Paglia around when so many of the readers have spoken up so articulately on the matter demonstrates one more attribute of bad editing —hubris and contempt for your readership.
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Epitaph vs Epithet
[Read the article: Let us now praise editors]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes, it should have read "an epithet" instead of "and epitaph". But you're right anonymous; it's more apropos and serendipitously funny as it is.
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Dear anonymous above...
[Read the article: "The World Without Us"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You win a free sterilization!
That was by far the stupidest thing I have ever read in the letters to the editor section of Salon.
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Brightstar65
[Read the article: Cupid's science]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Actually, a lot of people take Helen Fisher seriously! she is considered an expert in her field and is well respected among anthropologists.
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Give me the finger!
[Read the article: Cupid's science]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm confused. My ring finger (the one between my pinky and middle finger; whichever number that one is) is longer than my index (aka pointer finger: whichever number that one is). So was I awash in estrogen or testosterone when I was in the womb?
Since I have an impulse to cry and seek solice in a pint of icecream over this issue I'm guessing it was the former.