Correspondence

Two days there was this, a reader commentary in the Strib, Newspaper of the Twin Cities. “Some in black tie, others in body bags” was the headline. You don’t really have to read it.

Yesterday there was this letter responding. It’s kinda long but it’s good, scroll down for “Embittered, in a corner.”

Then today there was not this, which is a letter I in turn sent to the nottw:

I was heartened to read, in yesterday's letters, Daniel Kitzmann's thoughtful critique of Susan Lenfesty's less-thoughtful commentary of the day before. I'd like to add just one quick thought: The only way you can be afflicted with the disdain and outright venom that fills Ms. Lenfesty is to believe that your are absolutely, 100%, morally correct about a question that involves, no exaggeration, good and evil. And maybe she is. But I can pretty much guarantee you that she has become nearly immune to the possibility of changing her mind, or seeing the other side. There is no other side, and her self-respect depends on maintaining that reality.

And that, in a snippet, is the political problem the impassioned opponents of W find themselves in, and it's not just their problem since it's a sad fact that they can hold rational discourse hostage for as long as they want.

So is that pompous? Or rather, too pompous? Because I kind of mean it as a slap. Maybe a slap feels pompous to the person being slapped. Or maybe I’m just a sad pompous jerk.

I don’t think they’ll ever run it, mostly because Kitzmann’s letter basically makes the same points, if less snappily. I wasn’t really adding anything as I’d promised. That alone tilts the scale toward “pompous." Oh well. It was a letter emerging out of a sudden anger or passion, as do most of my actual behaviors.

But, still, I basically mean it.