Letters to the editor, anyone?

[ClaesGefvenberg]

Given the fact that many of us are prone to putting what is on our minds on paper, I assume that I'm not the only one pestering the local papers with letters to the editor... I know I do, and I would like to hear what you write about.

Note: We will skip the stuff that is not allowed acc. to the forum TOS, of course: Politics.

I'll start us off myself. Yesterday I got caught between an old confused man on a zebra crossing and a Road Rage victim behind me... Naturally I felt the urge to comment that in the local paper. This is a quick and dirty translation from my native Swedish:


A greeting to the driver behind me,

I am truly sorry that I impeded your journey yesterday. You will no doubt remember me: I was the perpetrator of the dastardly crime of not getting off the starting line immediately when the traffic lights turned to green. As a matter of fact I grew a wee bit concerned about your health. The colour of your face bore a close resemblance to the red paint of your vehicle, and that, I am sure, cannot be good for your health? Furthermore, I do hope that you did not damage your horn in the process of making me aware of my error? It does, after all, seem to be an important item in your arsenal for assuring free way.

Sadly, I have to admit that the sweet serenade you played on said item annoyed me to the point of showing my appreciation with a bony middle finger. That was admittedly stupid, and only serves to illustrate the fact that one should not assume malicious intent where mere stupidity serves as an explanation. In retrospect I do not think your intent was malicious...

So why did I not drive off when the lights turned so beautifully green? Well, as already pointed out, there was no malicious intent on my part either. The reason was the old man doing a balancing act at the edge of the sidewalk, stepping down on the street, and then retracing his step a couple of times. I did not wish to run him over. In spite of your merry tunes and encouraging words (Oh yes, I could read from your lips in the rear view mirror with the greatest of ease - Shocking language, I have to say), and the fact that the old man was indeed walking against a red light, that is not really on and I reserve my right to refuse to do so.

Oh, I almost forgot: Happy New Year...

/Claes

[Schokokeks]

Yesterday I got caught between an old confused man on a zebra crossing and a Road Rage victim behind me... Naturally I felt the urge to comment that in the local paper. This is a quick and dirty translation from my native Swedish...

Oh, Claes, if I were from the newspaper, I would hire you to write a weekly column ! You write very wittily, I really enjoyed your letter !

So far, I've only written one letter to the editor of my local newspaper when an article had put my school (for which I would have been ready to die ) into a bad light using dirty accusations that had no foundation whatsoever. My letter was printed, but had before been cut to such a level that my original message was trunctated to the extent of being unrecognisable. That made me so angry that I never wrote one again. I despise that newspaper anyway, with all its made-up news .

[ClaesGefvenberg]

That made me so angry that I never wrote one again. I despise that newspaper anyway, with all its made-up news

All the more reason to write to them. Journos need the odd reminder that their views are not the only ones around...

Other letters to the editor?

/Claes

[ClaesGefvenberg]

This old thread never really took off, and I find that a bit intriguing: Am I really the only one here making my presence felt in the local newspapers? Surely not?

Anyway: Since I wrote this, a new factor has come into play: The option to comment news in the online rags was not very common in 2006, but it is now. Are you using it?

/Claes

[JuniperWoolf]

I used to write a ton of letters to the editor. One is remembered in particular, one of our town's two journalists wrote an article about how these little wood cut-out dinosaurs in the garden beside the mall were being vandalized and he wrote about how it was a problem with the "local youth." I was seventeen at the time and working at a pizza place less than ten feet away from that garden, which also happens to be beside a bar, and from the door I watched four trashed adults play "dinosaur fight" with the cutouts, completely destroying them. I came down in classic badwoolf style on the journalist for unfairly vilifying youth, especially when he had no proof that they did anything and when I knew for a fact that it wasn't "youth" who commited the crime, and if public figures are going to blame young people for crimes that they didn't commit then maybe they might start actually commiting them. The forcefulness and precise, careful wording of my letter impressed quite a few people, three of my teachers pinned it to their classroom walls, and a months later I was working for the paper as a student editor.

[Emil Miller]

This old thread never really took off, and I find that a bit intriguing: Am I really the only one here making my presence felt in the local newspapers? Surely not?

Anyway: Since I wrote this, a new factor has come into play: The option to comment news in the online rags was not very common in 2006, but it is now. Are you using it?

/Claes

I used to write letters to the national press on occasion and had some printed but their lawyers are pretty sharp on what's legally allowable and will remove anything that leaves them open to censure.
I did contribute to a readers slot on my homepage until it was eventually closed down due to the violent and threatening nature of some contributors when the subject under discussion was politics. I don't mind using a rapier against opponents but have a marked distaste for the bludgeon that seems all too prevalent in online postings. I still read some online newspaper comments but can't be bothered to sign in, so I just sit back and enjoy the witty remarks that occasionally surface.

[ClaesGefvenberg]

and a months later I was working for the paper as a student editor.

Interesting turn of events... Did you in any way expect that?

I don't mind using a rapier against opponents but have a marked distaste for the bludgeon that seems all too prevalent in online postings.

I agree: A little finesse is called for in that kind of writing, and if things heat up I practice verbal Judo rather than bludgeoning.

I still read some online newspaper comments but can't be bothered to sign in, so I just sit back and enjoy the witty remarks that occasionally surface.

I do comment quite a lot these days. As long as there is a reasonable TOS in effect, I will happily enter the fray.

/Claes

[JuniperWoolf]

Interesting turn of events... Did you in any way expect that?

Haha, no. The guy I called out for jumping to conclusions gave me a job, I sure didn't expect that. Three years later, my dad gave him a job as a prison guard union rep. Small town life is weird.

[tonywalt]

I use a pseudonym when I do write letters to the editor. The island is too small and the populations memories too long.

They did screw it up and print my real name once, attached to a scathing letter, hopefully it's all forgotten now......

[ClaesGefvenberg]

I use a pseudonym when I do write letters to the editor. The island is too small and the populations memories too long.

So do I, but for another reason: I can stand up for anything I put in writing (it is not all that controversial), and feel that I am well equipped to defend myself from any verbal abuse, but I don't want my family to take the heat for my opinions, so: I use a pseudonym too.

/Claes