Dumbfounded

[richardf8]

I found this letter in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press today:

Renewing vows

Maybe I'm missing something but the last time I checked a map, St. Paul was still located in Minnesota. Yet my young son, tears streaming down his face, was deeply distressed to find an entire section of the Pioneer Press devoted to the Green Bay Packers. In shock, we immediately burned the newspaper and renewed our vows to always despise the Hated Pack. I only pray that we won't open the paper next week to discover a new section extolling the virtues of Osama Bin Laden, but nothing would surprise me at this point.

KURT LEIN

St. Paul


Now, forgive me, but while the Vikings/Packers rivalry is certainly an amusing diversion isn't burning the newpaper a bit of an extreme reaction? The child's tears were certainly a wonderful opportunity to teach him about priorities, about how important, or not, this diversion we call football is in the grand scheme of things. Instead we get a parent who responds by burning the paper and invidiously compares the Packers (who, as far as I know, have never killed anyone) with Osama Bin Laden, whose Al Qaeda has been responsible not only for 9/11, but ample attacks before and after. And we wonder why there have been post-game riots?

Comments

[kevinjdog.livejournal.com]

In a world where a thoughtless fan gets death threats, I'm not terribly surprised, frankly.

[kevinjdog.livejournal.com]

Momentarily thoughtless as well. Caught up in what should have been the fun of the game.

[richardf8]

What scares ME most is the amount of free floating rage in our culture to which it attests, and that those who experience that rage are also, consciously and deliberately, fostering it in their children. When that rage attaches itself to something, we're going to have a massacre.

[morgan1.livejournal.com]

Well, in the normal course of things, that rage would be channeled into shootin' up whatever enemy we happen to be at war with at the moment. But we have been cursed with relative peace in recent years, a sorry situation that W. seems to be doing his darndest to rectify.

[lordrunningclam.livejournal.com]

The amount of energy and personal emotion that people put into just watching professional sports and following a team dumbounds me. I like watching football and baseball but c'mon, its only a game. Worse still, its a business and all they really care about is making money. They are really entertainers. Its the equivalent of cheering for Tom Cruise or Harrison Ford in some movie. At least in High School and College ball you have some kind of connection with the team beyond mere geographical location, though not much more really.

I do feel sorry for that guy in Chicago. 1) it was a natural thing to do under the circumstances 2) the ball was really out of play by the time he caught it and 3) he wasn't even the only guy going for it. Thats what people do at baseball games. They try to catch foul balls that come at them.

It Was S'posed To Be A Joke...Like Hahahaha!

[(Anonymous)]

Oh good, this gives me the opportunity to respond to all the nutjobs who went ballistic on my letter to the editor. So here's the response I sent to the paper, which they refused to print....

"As a follow-up to my controversial 10/21 letter regarding the Green Bay Packers, I'd just like to say that when I wrote the letter I thought it was so over the top that nobody with an IQ above 50 would take it seriously. I still believe that."

KL

Re: It Was S'posed To Be A Joke...Like Hahahaha!

[richardf8]

Kurt

I don't typically respond to anonymous posts in my journal - after all, livejournal accounts are free - but I figure someone who is interested enough in defending his name to respond after nearly 3 years will almost certainly be intereted enough to check back for a response.

Your letter drew the reaction it drew because the news has generally been so surreal that it could, itself, be mistaken for satire. It is not difficult to imagine, how, in this context, satire can be taken for honesty. In short reality is "so over the top" these days that merely being "over the top" does not differentiate satire from reality.

As for your letter not being published, I suspect there are two reasons for this. The first is that newspapers rarely publish counterparries. You made your thrust, others parried, and it stops there, or else letters columns would just turn into a shouting match. The second is that your response essentially comes down to an insult of the intelligence of their readers. Really, try to show a little respect. Understand that if a writer is not properly understood, perhaps the blame does not reside solely with the reader.

And finally,

Dude, LET IT GO. It's nearly three years old, an awfully long time to hold a grudge over a matter this trivial.

Rich