Monday, December 06, 2004

Letter to the editor

Often the letters pages are a source of great amusement for me. Here's a snippet from a letter in yesterday's Sunday Independent responding to Eoghan Harris's Thanksgiving article about America:
I found Eoghan Harris's article horrific, full of half-truths and one-sidedness. Firstly, Mr Harris seems to believe America is the land of the free. A cursory glance at America today will show the huge infringes on civil rights. One can not even rent out a library book without being monitored by the secret service.
And, who penned this defense of civil liberties? Who is it that has such exacting standards in governmental transparency and honesty? Who is it that worries so about the state snooping on its own citizens? Why it's Jonathan Mahon, Kildare Branch, Communist Party of Ireland, that's who.

At first I thought he was kidding and that this was done tongue in cheek. However, after reading it again, I think he's being serious.

Hello Jonathan, are you there? Have you heard of Stalin, Ceausescu, the Stasi, etc.?

I still half suspect he's joking. He'd have to be, right?