"As Predictable as a Set-Up Pitch

It's so wonderful being alone! Christmas sucks! America sucks! Who needs to be around idiot breeders with their imaginary god and patriarchal traditions! We're so much happier and smarter and better than they are!"

I see alot of hostility in this post. The whole point of the LW and Cary's answer was that you do not have to cave in to the wishes of the masses on this issue. That we are all free to do as we please and don't have to meet the expectations of other people for what happiness SHOULD be.

No one is attacking you. No one is saying anything about smarter or better or happier. all they are saying is that they don't fit the standard, but that's ok.

That's not often heard at Christmas, and that's why it was valuable to say it, for people falling out of the mainstream.

Don't be mean about that. Sarcasm has no place in that. People just want their preferences respected.

Look. I live in Utah. I come from a staunch Catholic family, all of whom have been worried that I might become a member of the "Mormon cult". When I first got here, I looked at members of the LDS church as being poor pathetic misguided souls, indeed sucked into a cult. After I offended a few people with my ignorance, I started reading a little more about the church and I find that like all religions, it's based on a nice story.

But I am an atheist. A staunch atheist. And so the faults I find with Mormonism, are the faults I find with Catholicism and with Judaism and Islam.... they are all based on the idea of an invisibile supernatural being exerting influence on us all from afar. Nice. Comforting even, when life seems too random and out of control.

But completely unnecessary and often violent and destructive. "My guy in heaven is the only one there, and yours is a complete hoax."

It was only when I realized I was sometimes as self-satisfied and zealous about atheism about as other people are about christianty that I truly embraced the idea of live and let live. Let people do and think and believe as they want. It is absolutely no skin off of anybody's nose. If scientologists want to have their controlling cult, who am I to say they're wrong? Most people like me know people aren't ready for a world without control and have given up on the idea of insisting that people find atheist truths.

So I say just chill. You don't need drugs to do that, either, Cary!

The very last thing in the world ANY parent would want to do is go to Child Protective services, especially once they have been accused of something, and make trouble.

Those people have all of the power and the accused parents have none. The law is totally on the side of the state, and their ability to remove a child from the home. There are countless stories of people falsely accused who have nevertheless lost their children.

I was watching Michael Moore's Sicko and appreciated a point that he made about the differences between France and the US. In France, the government is afraid of the people. They derive their power from the people and they know it. In the US the people are afraid of the government. Our government has been so ruthless in its use of its power against its constituents, that people have learned that it's best to keep your head down and make as little fuss as possible. So the IRS won't audit you, so the DCFS won't take your kids away, so the boogeyman won't come and take you to jail.

I am not sure how to wrest power back from an abusive government, but that is the bigger issue here.

I can't even believe this letter appeared now.

I have a friend whose husband had an affair with a co-worker, which ultimately destroyed their marriage. When the other woman broke off the affair with this man after he had lost his wife (my friend) and children and house and job, he snapped and became violent. He is in prison now, and all of their lives are in shambles.

It seems to me that Cary's advice is excellent. Therapy is urgently required. But in addition to one on one therapy for the letter-writer, I would suggest therapy for all of the principals involved, because each has the power to ruin the lives of the others. They are all now tied together in the fragility of this situation, and an intervention should take place --- an intervention by trained professionals who can keep things rational and most importantly, calm.

I realize that openness in this situation may be difficult, but everyone always finds everything out sooner or later, and the tragedy is when harm comes to people when it could have been avoided.

Steve Law had it right when he said Salon is losing its gravitas. I love a good time as much as the next girl, but seriously, you guys really need to work a little harder. The stories you're coming up with just don't seem like research efforts at all anymore.

And so even when it's fine to have fun, like the sexiest living man thing... your choices reveal your shallowness. Gay athletes, and cartoon characters?

There used to be at least mention made of the thinking woman's sex symbol, but now even that is gone. Quiet thoughtful serious actors, risk-taking politicians, brilliant writers..... none of it's there anymore.

Please Salon, buy some NoDoz and put some effort, some thought into it.....

I personally don't think the right wing blogosphere are merely stupid. That is too benign.

I think they are malevolent. They are cunning and diabolical. They look for ways to convince the gullible ignorant masses of a convenient truth and they have no morals about truth-telling.

You give them too much credit. They are evil.

Period.