And While I'm Being Cranky...

Back when I lived in Grand Rapids, I used to love reading the “Letters to the editor” in the public pulse section of the Grand Rapids Press. Most of them were so moronic that they were interesting.

Well, there are stupid people everywhere, because the “Letters to the editor” section of the Japan Times often contains the same level of deep thinking. There are plentiful examples to choose from, but I just happened to be reading this one today. Check out this little gem:

“My heart goes out to the victims of the recent killer earthquake in northern Pakistan. I hope that international aid agencies work together to provide succor to the survivors. On a cynical note, however, I also hope that Osama Bin Laden and his cohorts got buried in their rat holes following the quake. If this indeed happened (although proving it would be next to impossible), then there would at least be one positive aspect to this tragedy.” From Ami S. in Tokyo, etc.

Have you ever heard thoughts on the Pakistan earthquakes so eloquently expressed? We should all do our part to help the Pakistan victims by writing letters like this.

As with the usual fare in the Grand Rapids Press, what amazes me isn’t so much that someone thought this up, as that they actually thought this would benefit other people to read, and went through the trouble of typing this up and sending it in. I would love to see the stack of letters that newspapers deem “too banal for publication.”

I usually think that if you have something original, unique or insightful to say, and you think that these thoughts would serve to educate or enlighten the readers of the paper, by all means write in a letter. But if you are just venting about how terrible the earthquake is or what a rat Osama is, then that is what blogs were created for.

Okay, as Phil would say: “I’m done being a dick now”

One interesting thing I did learn from the “Letters to the Editor” was a reference to this article: “Biased history helps feed U.S. fascination with Pearl Harbor” By Charles Burress. It was very interesting reading. You can read it here. Or, for more fun, you can read it on the Free Republic, complete with intelligent conservative commentary at the end.

Link of the day
I don’t know if this has been news back in the US, but it pops up every once in a while in the papers over here:

It appears that the country of Korea was originally spelled with a “C”. When Japan colonized Korea, they changed the spelling to a “K” so that Korea would not precede Japan in the Olympic procession. (Sometimes I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the extent of human evil).

Some activists in Korea are eager to change the spelling back to the original “C” but it would be a huge expense to change every single government document and sign, so it doesn’t look like it is going to happen anytime soon.