Speaking of pointing out the foibles of politicians (as I did in last week’s entry), and speaking of political correctness, last week’s story about the U.K. Member of Parliament who called people in his district “inbred” brought quite a few comments, with most being hard on me.
Reader Feedback
Define “Political Correctness”
A story this week is notable not just because of my offered “definition” of “Political Correctness,” but for some interesting commentary it brought. First, the story, from True’s 28 August 2006 issue:
Why Publish Letters from “Idiots”?
Now and then there’s a story or item that brings a nearly violent response from a small subset of readers. Even though they are usually represent a very small minority of my readers, I’ll often publish such letters. Why?
A “Letter”? From an “Editor”!
Do the ! and ? in the title above, in relation to the quotation marks, bother you? Vindicate you? Make you wonder? Maybe you’ll enjoy this little debate, which opened in the 22 January 2006 issue.
That’s Not Funny!
Now and then a reader will write to say they’re outraged by a story — that it’s “not humorous.”
Should Readers be Exempt?
My conversational style brings lots of response from readers. Usually, that response is intelligent, thoughtful, and sometimes even very entertaining. Now and then, the response is stupid, ill-thought-out, and sometimes even very entertaining. While I obviously love the first kind, it’s a lot more fun to deal with the second type.
Is There Too Much ZT in True?
After several ZT-in-schools stories over the last month, Laine in Utah complained:
True: It’s Not for Everyone
Some people even whine when I say maybe they wouldn’t like to upgrade. Really.
Here’s what I said in last week’s newsletter:
Happy Politically Correct Holiday
Last week’s issue included this story, which naturally brought an incredibly whiny complaint by someone who clearly didn’t understand the concept at all:
Psychic Pay Increase
I often say that the “psychic pay” I get for doing this job is as good, or sometimes better, than the paycheck. Maybe you’ll see what I mean when you read this letter from reader Byron in Colorado — and my comments below it:
Another Self-Proclaimed Religious Scholar
So I got this email from a reader demanding to know why I make my world-famous “Get Out of Hell Free” cards available. I’ve written about that quite a bit over the years, so I don’t intend to repeat it all here (see the GOOHF site if you’re not already aware of the story. The basic answer, though, is “Because people like them.”)
Got GOOHFy
I think it’s an obvious concept, but Richard in (I think) Connecticut writes:
Did You “Get” It?
An illustrative letter from reader Georges in France:
The Dumb Leading the Blind
Last week I ran a story about how hundreds of celebrities were on the defense witness list for the Michael Jackson trial. The tag: “…Stevie Wonder is particularly upset at being named. ‘Yeah I was there,’ he admits. ‘But I didn’t see anything!'”
We Don’t Need No Education
This is True often deals with education. That’s due to several factors, including: 1) We all spend so many of our formative years in school, 2) Kids have a knack for doing really dumb things sometimes, and 3) School administrators and teachers always want to outdo the kids, and thus pull even dumber stunts.
Binge Drinking in College: No, Not Funny
I periodically remind people: the stories in This is True are not always meant to be funny. Even the funny ones are often chosen to drive home a point, but sometimes being funny isn’t the way to do that. A good example is this two-story line-up from True’s 3 October 2004 issue:
Thanks to Zero Tolerance, You are Not Safe
The silly concept of “Zero Tolerance” may have started in American schools, but it certainly did not end there. It not only has spread to schools in other countries, what’s the expected result when all those schoolchildren get out of school, and into the Real World?
I Demand You Agree With This
There was a story last week about the governor of West Virginia, who was so outraged over a joke T-shirt that he demanded 1) that the seller remove them from its stores and catalog, 2) recall them, and 3) destroy them. The company refused. My tagline: “…In other news, the indignant governor said no, it’s untrue that only inbred buffoons think they can stop people from telling jokes.”
The Cradle of Common Law
In the 28 March edition I ran a story about Britain’s Home Secretary, who has started billing released prisoners for their room and board when they have been found innocent after spending years in prison.
When is Racism OK?
When some idiot in the public eye spews forth an outrageous racist remark or two, they’re always called to task! And rightly so. Well… are they really? What happens when people are afraid to call a racist a racist, because they’ll be called racist? This story was in True’s 29 February 2004 issue: