Mailbag

 

     Monday's mailbag of email was particularly heavy — metaphorically, of course — after my column on the murder of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. Most commented on aspects of our national healthcare disaster. But some were the kind of off-base attack that I've grown to savor because, really, how else can you approach them but as a connoisseur of contempt? I'll share two. The first correspondent, perhaps new to my column, or new to the entire idea of opinion writing, registered displeasure with both my views and my sharp prose.

Mr. Steinberg:

First, starting your article with a recitation of your issues getting a prescription refill for your pen needles made “all killing is bad” insincere at best.

Second, those with Type 1 or other insulin dependent diabetes are hardly “junkies.” Injecting insulin is not “shooting up,” and there is absolutely no reason that anyone needs to inject insulin in a bathroom.

I was disappointed in your column.

Debra S.

     I didn't know quite where to begin on that one — if you're supposed to take fast-acting insulin five minutes before you eat, and you're at a restaurant, where are you supposed to take it? At the table? Should it be considered a kind of weird subcutaneous cousin of breastfeeding? Not me. Not yet anyway. Trying to introduce the idea that not everything is for everybody, I replied:

Dear Ms. S.:

Thanks for writing, mistaken though you are, on several levels. First, both my opening and my belief that killing is bad are completely sincere. Odd that you would pretend to look into my mind and conclude otherwise. Second, as a vivid writer, I am allowed to couch my life experience in whatever terms I like. While it is a shame you are disappointed, the problem is yours, not mine, since I write for people who like what I do. If you don't, then it is not for you. Why would I take advice from people who don't like my work? Anyway, here's hoping you stick around, and perhaps like future columns better or, barring that, find someone whose writing matches your internal demands for ordinary, literal prose.

Best,
NS

     Then there was the reader irked that we had ignored the anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Email is a cold medium, and I can't tell whether this guy is a fan who expressed himself poorly, or someone touting the past and future president. 

Neil,
     Couldn't help but wonder if the 47th president elect, Commander Bone Spurs attitude towards our men and women in uniform** had anything to do with the fact that there was no mention in Saturday's Sun Times edition of "the date that will live in infamy"

Bill C. ( the faithful reader from Highland Park whose fears you calmed during the paper's printing fiasco with your speedy reply to my e-mail)

     ** "they are all suckers and losers"

     I wondered where he was coming from — someone trying to blameshift Trump's treason onto us? How did that jibe with his citing the bone spurs, plus his being a "faithful reader?"
 I probably shouldn't have unleashed the dogs of snark. Perhaps I was being too literal myself, but then, I am an imperfect vessel myself, and was set off by the Remember Pearl Harbor! complaint, which I've been pelted with for decades by people who certainly need no reminding. I replied:

     Really? You did? The short answer is "no." For starters, because of the linearity of time — the liar, bully, fraud and traitor expressed his contempt for our soldiers years before the Sun-Times did not mark the 83rd anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Thus the chances of the latter being responsible for the former are zero.

               Does that help?

               NS