Some time ago I wrote a letter to the editor of the Kennebec Journal. After 10 days without seeing it in print, I sent an email.
I recently submitted a letter to the editor. It has been over a week since I sent it. It refuted the irresponsible claims made by a pseudo-doctor. It was properly uncharitable to the man; his ‘profession’ earned as much.
I am wondering if the reason I have yet to see my letter published due to this unkindness. If the KJ coddling anti-science, anti-medicine quacks who have no evidence (or grossly misrepresent evidence)? I hope I am simply jumping the gun and I will see my letter come Monday or Tuesday.
I took an aggressive tact because the KJ has in the past denied publication of one of my letters. They lied to me and said they could not confirm certain facts. It’s no secret they were legally covering themselves. This naturally made me a bit bitter; my letter was about a stunt of a man who actively defended paying an employee under $8 an hour after 8 years of service (in 2005). The fact that his reputation was being protected was disgusting to me.
So, with that in the back of my mind, I wondered if the same was happening with my recent letter. I attacked a quack ‘doctor’ who had recently written about naturopathy. As my above email says, I was not kind. He hasn’t earned such respect.
I made an assumption that the KJ was coddling the man. Of course, I mean two things by that. First, they gave an extra little blurb after his letter describing his ‘profession’. This gives the man credence he doesn’t deserve. Second, the paper has shown itself afraid to let its readers use strong language in the past.
Turns out I was wrong.
Mr. Hawkins,
We are struggling to get those letters in the paper right now because both of the people who handle them have been out sick. We’ll be catching up later in the week, I hope.
Jim Evans
Managing Editor
What happened here was a poor consideration of the evidence around me. Of course, people may be out sick. Or maybe priority had been given to larger pieces (recent editions of the paper have been scant on letters to the editor). I should have given the issue more consideration. I’m happy to admit that I did jump the gun with my accusing questioning. It’s a good lesson.
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Humble Pie, Kennebec Journal | 1 Comment »
For the Sake of Science 