Friday, June 20, 2008

A Diatribe

Just for the record, I want to point out that it is inappropriate to send your Congressman any of the following:

  • Emails with links to YouTube videos;
  • Emails peppered with swear words in capital letters; and
  • Emails peppered with MISSPELLED swear words in capital letters.
I have been suspecting for the past year or so that email is not the wunderkind we once thought it was, but after arriving at work this morning to 400 emails from mean people cussing out my boss for not drilling for oil in the U.S. (he, of course, supports said drilling), it is official: email sucks. Being able to jot off a one-sentence email and then click "send" within the space of 30 seconds of irrational anger is not good for society.

Please do me a favor. If you ever feel the need to contact your Congressman (and I am not discouraging you from doing so), sit yourself down and write a letter with good old-fashioned paper and pen, then take the time to fold it, address an envelope, and lick a stamp. In doing so, you may actually think through what you are writing, and our country may be a better place as a result.

End of diatribe. Or, to quote Dwight Shrute, "Reshun."

4 comments:

Alison said...

This sounds a lot like how we feel about attorneys who cite to Wikipedia in briefs to the court! Seriously???

Amanda said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Amanda said...

Great soapbox, MJ! I couldn't agree more-- I used to get so frustrated with my college students who tried to resolve their roommate conflicts over IM and couldn't understand why it didn't work. People have lost the true art of communication.

J.R. said...

So, are swear words allowed if they are spelled correctly and not all caps?

I need to know these things.