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So... Hawth. Why don't you sent her a letter reversing the roles, and possibly finding some other distraction for the husband, say cars and the cute little air-brush artist that doing SO much work for him, and we'll see what her response is.
Then we'll let her have it between the eyes: a coordinated letter-writing campaign to the editors of the newspapers in each of our cities.
Wadaya think?
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That sounds like an excellent idea to me. Yeah, we'd be setting her up a bit, but it's worth it.
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Alright. I can be creative. If she responds as expected, do we reveal that it was a hoax, or merely send letters to the editor pretending that we're average readers who happened to see the letter and noted the disparity of responses?
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I hate to be a downer, but I doubt that Ann Landers (or the cabal of writers who stand behind her name) are going to be shocked or repentant upon being shown their own bigotry. Neither are Ann's readers going to think any more than they do already.
Ann's readers know what kind of advice they want to see in her column, and "she" knows what they want.
This is standard Landers advice. Ann Landers (both the woman and the media construct) is a "liberated" woman who dips back into the fifties whenever it's convenient. She regularly blames most relationship problems on men and makes copious excuses for women. She knows who is reading her column. If she had told this man that his wife was behaving badly, she may have lost some readership. As it was, she probably gained some.
Even more offensive than this column was one she wrote many years ago, in which a writer complained that her boyfriend had lost his job and moved in with her. "He cleans the house, does the laundry and cooking, and takes care of all the other chores, but he doesn't seem interested in getting another job," wrote the distraught woman. Ann's advice? "Dump him. He's a freeloader." Freeloader? Gee, when I was a kid, we had a word for unemployed people who cleaned, cooked, and did all the chores at home. We called them "wives".
Anyway, as you can see, Ann Landers prints this kind of dreck far too regularly for it to be accidental.
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Nope. On second thought, I'm not doing it that way. You guys are right to challenge me, because I'll admit that I have been rather long on speeches and short on action. And you can call me a coward and a phony - although, believe me, you're not going to hurt me or influence my behavior by doing so.
You're right in suggesting that I write to her. And I will. But I'm not sending a bogus letter. I will say to her exactly what I originally posted here - that I think she's biased and that if the tables were turned, she would probably have responded differently. She may deny it or acknowledge that she stuck her foot in her mouth (something I've seen her admit to in response to previous backlashes, by the way), but the main thing is that if they print my letter, a lot of people will see it and be able to draw their own conclusions, regardless of her response. It's the same thing I've been doing here, all along.
Feel free to read me the riot act and deride me all you want, but it's the way I feel and I'm just not doing it. I don't like the deceptiveness of it. And in my time here, you guys have talked about taking various different courses of action, but usually actions that were straightforward and honest. Admittedly, I need to practice at taking that kind of action. But taking an action that involves deception (such as pretending to be a woman!) would only be backing me up and not pushing me forward in my progress.
So, that's my final decision. Go ahead - fire away.
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So, that's my final decision. Go ahead - fire away.
I think you're expecting a little much. ;-) Honestly, Hawth, it's your decision. Also, after thinking abuot it, you may be right that honesty is the best policy here. There's just an evil side of me that would (in some circumstances) love to see deception used against those who practice their craft in the way Ann Landers and her minions do (as BusterB eloquently describes below). I don't think anyone is going to come down on you for not taking the deceptive route, though. Honesty is certainly more honorable.
I've said it before--there's a great diversity of opinion on this Web site, and I doubt very many of us see good reason to come out and bash someone else, although we may get into heated disagreements from time to time. In the few months I've been posting here, I've only met one person who gets unnecessarily nasty, and I've never been afraid to fire back at him.
In any case, make sure you share with us your letter to Landers, ESPECIALLY if you get a response (whether public or private to you). I'm interested to hear her reply.
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