Dear Ms. Havrilesky,

I will completely ignore the main point of your article - all of your carefully worded commentary regarding our wonderful diversions - and go directly to your lead-in. The world is going to hell in a handbasket, at an amazingly accelerating rate this week, and you and one other commentator (I believe on Salon as well) are the only ones to make note of this, at least so far as I have seen. Oh sure, CNN and other "standard" news outlets have the usual urgent-sounding stories, but - they always have urgent sounding, outlined-in-screaming-red, BREAKING news stories. Even this week, these urgent stories have not been able to displace all of those other urgent stories from the "news". I am sure, at this very minute, that if I turned on CNN "Headline News", I would find Nancy Grace, discussing some absolutely essential new disclosure in the Natalee Holloway story. Even in the case of the ultra-serious New York Times, we have Maureen Dowd's column this morning, which concerns . . . sluts. Now I know that this is a very important topic (particularly to you, with regard to your work), but one might possibly think that there would be other SLIGHTLY more important matters for an NYT columnist to write about, even in a somewhat snarky and sarcastic manner. This all gives me a very odd feeling, as if you and I (and possibly a few thousand other people) are the only ones who note that the end of the planet as we know it might be quite near, and that it might not be as pleasant an experience as some others might imagine. I look forward to reading your next contribution, if we are all still here next week.

Sincerely,

A Dedicated Reader

I have to say, after decades of genocide this, and genocide that, and bombs in nightclubs and tidal waves and hurricanes, and the US invading places against its own will, and holding prisoners without charge or trial indefinitely...why now? What is it about THIS bomb (and not the ones in Spain or the UK or riots in france) and this invasion (and not Chechnya and other Eastern former-USSR republics in which Cheney hangs) that makes it so apocalyptic-seeming?

Is it because it's Israel?

First of all, why hide your name? Afraid of reprisals? Well, you're afraid of an apocalypse, over which you have no control, so it's only rational that you might be afraid of being spammed or mocked.

Second, it isn't indifference you're sensing in the media; much of it is resignation. Israel and Lebanon want to make war, they've been preparing for it a long time, they want to kill each other's children. It's the Super Bowl for them. It would take wisdom far greater than that posessed by anybody in the Western world to cool them down. And there's nothing you can do about it. Maybe, if your feelings are upset about the matter, you might find a Jew or a Lebanese (your choice) and punch them out, but that's not going to change the situation.

Third, what isn't indifference is a real desire for the Apocalypse. It's that desire of the "true Christians" to see the rest of us become eternally roasting chunks of meat in Satan's barbecue that drives them. "I told you so" is an essential component of most religions, and quite a few conservatives are licking their chops.

Fourth, the indifference of Havrilesky is a basic function of her contempt for all of us out here in the darkness. She's the intellectual goddess and we're not. It almost makes me wish that the Apocalypse of the "true Christians" really was about to happen, just to see her face finally show an expression besides contempt.

There is no Armageddon that will annihilate 6.5 billion people,and install Watchtower leaders as world rulers.

Every Jehovah's Witness member will grow old and die just like everyone else.

Best regards,Danny Haszard

Recently I asked HH to respond to a few pointed criticisms I had with her writing. The response I received was genuinely frightening. This column is who she is. She's neither snarky, clever, nor winking as she writes. She believes what she writes, it is the sum of her existence. This is all she knows, and she's proud of it.

I wanted to believe she was putting me on, that she was much smarter than she appears. Alas. I am left with this: either she is this vapid or she enjoys being stupid 24/7 for a paycheck. I can accept the former; not everyone was blessed with a 3-digit IQ. To accept the latter means she chooses to be, well, a jerk. And what's that say about her sycophantic minions who bray each week about their worship for her?

...why am I the first person to point out that Ms. Havrilesky uses the wrong spelling of "steel" when she urges us to "steal yourself against such moments..."?

Reading a television column and then whinging that it's vacuous makes you look phenomenally stupid. It's like a Baptist preacher going into an Adult Novelties store and bitching that there's dirty stuff on the shelves. Grow up.

Popular television is vacuous by nature. Ms. Havrilesky writes about it amusingly. If you don't appreciate her style, read your television reviews elsewhere, you morons. Reading her column so that you can moan and sob about what an awful writer she is is the equivalent of hitting yourself repeatedly on the head with a hammer while saying "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow."

I suppose at some point some of you will realize that your letters cast you in a pathetically laughable light for those reasons. On second thought, anyone who would keep hitting themselves on the head with a hammer while complaining about how AWFULLY MUCH it hurts probably won't ever reach that level of self-awareness.

I think it is very interesting how you can take a word of such bad meaning (Taepodong-2), such ruthlessness and demise, and turn it into the funniest thing I've ever heard. Great job with your story!!! Can't wait to read more in the coming weeks.

Brad