September 25th, 2013 / 3:49 am
Snippets
Snippets
Elias Tezapsidis—
Here’s this interesting thing about some people who sent letters to the editors of Vanity Fair and People. (I remember reading one of them very clearly: the Michelle Price one on VF.)
DO YOU USUALLY READ ‘LETTERS TO THE EDITOR?’ DO YOU EVER WRITE THEM?
It’s become a bit anachronistic to write paper-letters at all, but what’s so mysterious to Graham about paper-letter writers who “write to Redbook extolling the great beauty and virtue of Eva Longoria”?
Other people are interested in things that you–not you; anybody–find trivial, trashy, or stultifying (or any two or all three) — sure, that’s weird. But even an iota of empathy or self-awareness in the worlds of other people would tell you that plenty of your interests are going to be trivial and/or trashy and/or stultifying to, probably, more than a few people. So, given your interest in, say, the NFC West division race, you could look at ANY interest in Redbook and say, ‘I wouldn’t accept a free copy, but I guess I’m glad the magazine exists…’
So, given that there are people interested enough in them to pore through Redbook‘s revelations of Eva Longoria’s social concerns, personal life, and beauty tips, why wouldn’t a few of those of them who write paper-letters at all be moved by an article’s catalysis of their own movement in the direction of ‘Eva Longoria’ to share their reactions to the article with whomever?
Maybe Graham’s real question is ‘why does anybody write anything?’. Why does anybody communicate anything at all, except spontaneously for physical survival? –especially anything of their inner life?
To me, that’s a better question than ‘why do you talk to other people about your boring trips?’.
i think you can submit these letters online to a lot of places. so the snail-threat won t be a prohibitive issue.
curious about “physical survival.” not sure i think all writing is about it, especially everything pertaining to inner life? (except, of course, in the case of eva longoria. )