If tongue is in cheek, somebody will bite
Like the “Speakers’ Corner” in Hyde Park, London, the newspaper’s letters page allows for readers to address issues affecting our community, take each other to task, or respond to what they see as the paper’s sins of omission and commission. Readers probably pay more attention to the letters page than any other. This month’s column will look at one particular letter; next month will focus on the paper’s letters page in general, and why the editors publish some and rejects others.
First, some thoughts about one letter that did make it in – and it’s an episode that holds some unexpected lessons. The letter, on March 22, was from Bob Salsbury. He’s a contributor familiar to Doug Floyd, the editorial page editor, and Gary Crooks, the associate editor who works closely with letters. Salsbury’s most recent letter responded to a previous reader comment about the dangers of pit bulls. In effect, he said that while pit bulls are a problem, there’s a real danger from a breed we don’t know much about, Labradoodles (a cross between Labradors and poodles). This breed, Salsbury wrote, “was originally developed in Australia to hunt and kill kangaroos, which it does in a vicious manner.” Sobering stuff. Until you realize this was all a spoof. The Labradoodle, it turns out, is a remarkably gentle dog bred down under originally as a guide dog.
The editors, knowing Salsbury’s tongue-in-cheek style, ran the letter assuming everyone else would see the humor. Not everyone did. Moreover, in our Internet age, it didn’t take long before this letter with its straightforward headline, “New breed to make us jumpy,” began traversing cyberspace. E-mails began to arrive in Curtis Rist’s in-box. He’s based in Craryville, New York, and breeds Labradoodles. He’s also got close ties to the Labradoodle Association of Australia.
Rist first got messages alerting him to the fact this letter was out there; one writer was convinced it must have been written by a “whacko” who didn’t know what he was talking about. So much for humor. Then came questions from people who were considering getting a Labradoodle, but based on the letter circulating on the Net they now wanted to know if it was safe to do so.
Subsequently, the paper has run at least four letters (one from Rist himself) seeking to correct the impressions triggered by the spoof. Initially, the paper wouldn’t run his letter; it has a policy of generally not publishing letters from out of the region. But it reconsidered. Crooks says they will waive that policy when someone outside the area – like Rist – clearly has a direct stake in an issue.
Rist says Salsbury’s original letter has become a topic of extensive discussion on several Labradoodle chat sites, and that it’s taken on a life of its own. The paper did the right thing in running follow-up letters to set things straight, but Rist is still concerned that the original will continue to echo through cyberspace.
While there’s no more the paper can do about that, the question remains: Should the initial letter have run as it did? I’d say no. Now, I don’t want to make a bigger deal than necessary out of this exercise in humor. This didn’t trigger an international diplomatic crisis or worldwide economic recession. But there was a miscalculation on what local readers — but especially more distant ones — would think of the letter. Not knowing Salsbury’s reputation as the inventive and impish writer that he is, I must admit that I took it literally. Looking back, I now see the humor. But Curtis Rist and Labradoodle breeders elsewhere aren’t laughing.
Two lessons emerge from this episode. One relates to context. The paper’s editors, knowing Salsbury’s style, saw the letter as he intended it: an entertaining spoof. But others of us, seeing a letter surrounded by a dozen other serious contributions, were caught off guard. I’d have welcomed a hint that told me, “humor ahead.” Crooks says the headline included the word “jumpy,” referring to kangaroos, to provide such a hint. He agrees, though, that this may have been too subtle.
The second is a reminder to all of us of the power we unleash when we send any communication into cyberspace, or make something like Salsbury’s letter available on a newspaper’s Website. A private e-mail can find its way around the world in seconds. So can countless other kinds of things we put out there. And while most people may take with a grain of salt the communications you and I may submit as private persons, when a facetious item on a credible newspaper’s letter page starts doing the rounds, there’s no knowing where it may end because people have taken it seriously.
Oh, and maybe there’s a third lesson. Gary Crooks steered me to Salsbury’s blog, which lists his musings, thoughts of the day, and poetry – clearly the products of an entertaining and inventive mind. Why not give him an occasional column in the paper? I’d love to read more of his writing. Next time, though, I’d know what to expect. And I suspect if I forward any writing he may do to Curtis Rist in New York, he’d see Bob Salsbury’s creativity in a whole new light – and may have a chuckle or two himself.