Readers’ letters are often the best bit of any publication
I think I'll hand over the main space today to a more intelligent and interesting source of material: you, the readers. And if you think that this is just a cheap trick to avoid writing a posting, my answer to that is: yeah, well, so?
But if you think about it, readers of any publication or website have more brains than the people who actually write it. That's because there are more of you than there are of us.
The only exception is the mega-boring family blog of my friend Delia, which has eight writers but only six readers, all of whom are spam-delivery robots.
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A recent newspaper/ web column on cross-dressing produced a note from a male-turned-female called Sarah. "I have exchanged white male Anglo Saxon privilege for the delights of being a woman," she wrote. But being a cross-dresser is not easy, she added. "I believe that life has played a cruel trick on those of us who are transgendered."
True, but life has played a cruel trick on many of us who are not transgendered too, I reckon, Sarah. For example, I am a rich, handsome, hunk locked inside a body which is none of those things. Not much I can do about that. I have tried to tell people about it ("Girls, guess what, I look exactly like Brad Pitt on the inside") but it doesn't work.
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Last week I wrote about Eddie and Sam Antar, whose US retail chain Crazy Eddie collapsed with debts and jail sentences. I got a letter from Sam Antar, saying: "I enjoyed reading your article. One small correction, I am Eddie’s cousin and not his brother." The reformed fraudster now runs a website worth visiting: whitecollarfraud.com. Yes, you get all sorts reading this, and everyone’s welcome.
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Reader Gerry Pieris took issue with this column in the shape of a lengthy editorial feature in The Island newspaper of Sri Lanka. Why? Because I sniggered over a tourist brochure which described Sri Lanka as "a place where different ethnic groups live together in perfect peace and harmony".
Most of the people on the island DO live together peacefully, he argued. Only a minority are engaged in fighting. Gerry is absolutely right, of course. All I was really saying is that if you want a "poster-child" for the concept of harmony between ethnic groups, Sri Lanka may not be the obvious choice. There are sandy beaches in Alaska, but that doesn't make it the Sahara.
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Reader Vince A, a Filipino-Australian, wrote to comment on a posting about dinosaurs: "Outside Asia, people believe the dinosaurs became extinct because of strange phenomena like a global ice age or because an asteroid from outer space wiped them out. Yeah, right. We Asians know dinosaurs became extinct because they made for great barbecues. Recent excavations show many fossils have traces of char siu sauce."
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Also in the news: Jackie Chan's stupid remarks that Chinese people should not have freedom were spoken at the Boao Forum, a Chinese economic conference. A reader named Jon asked: "How does being an action star qualify one to be a delegate for such a conference? It’s like inviting Susan Boyle to discuss problems in the Middle East."
Actually, singer Ms Boyle, having become world famous for being spectacularly unattractive, has already achieved the impossible once, so we should let her try sorting out the Palestine/ Israel problem.
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There has been lots of appreciation for domestic helpers in these columns of late. I particularly enjoyed a line from Christian Fardel in the Caribbean, who wrote that when he lost his domestic helper his home became so untidy that he had to cut his way into it “with a machete”. So I guess my apartment is not so bad.
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I close with a note from Wendy Tong in Hong Kong: "Your column is rude, obnoxious, cheeky, politically incorrect and impolite. Thank God. Keep up the good work."
This column could not be half as cheeky without the gang, so thanks to all of you.
