MEMO THE EDITOR
MEMO the Editor Horsewhipped In an earlier and more colorful era, an occasional irate subscriber would show up at a publication's office, horsewhip in hand, to thrash the Editor. Today's readers...
...Often, there's a letter in the pile that will make my day...
...With all those restrictions, we still can't find room for all the letters we would like to publish, but we read all the letters we receive and often learn from them...
...But every letter, no matter what its tone, signifies that a reader cared enough to take the time and trouble to let us know what was on his or her mind...
...Even a letter can sting like a rawhide lash...
...One letter I received a few weeks ago began, "I'm distressed and disappointed to see The Progressive publish the letter by...
...Today's readers seem no less eager to take offense, but as a rule they merely write angry letters...
...We prefer letters that make a fresh point or that make a familiar point in a fresh manner...
...All else being equal, we prefer to publish letters that take issue with us, so that our readers can consider the alternatives and make up their own minds...
...When a letter is critical of an article or review written by an outside contributor, we give the author a chance to reply...
...It also beats getting horsewhipped...
...If you read the dozen or so letters we've chosen for publication in this issue, you'll find that the great majority of them voice criticism, ranging from mild to vehement, of material we have previously published in The Progressive...
...Well, the reason is this: While we hold firm opinions on a great array of topics and are not at all shy about making our positions known, we try to bear in mind the possibility—just the barest possibility, mind you—that we may be mistaken...
...Another letter-writer charges that when The Progressive published an article warning that environmental pollution has reached the point where even mother's milk is tainted, we became "an unwitting partner of the formula industry...
...That certainly beats getting no mail at all...
...I've always been suspicious of publications that rarely or never publish critical letters...
...From my perspective, it's a change for the better...
...We won't withhold a letter-writer's name except for the most compelling reasons...
...So I won't take up precious space on the Letters pages (or on this page) to assure our unhappy correspondents that I'm not really a horribly selfish person, or that we haven't really colluded in turning murderers loose on the hapless citizens of New Mexico...
...With rare exceptions, we confine the Letters pages to communications commenting directly on material we've published in the magazine...
...in fact, our primary purpose in publishing letters is to give readers an opportunity to vent their disagreements with the editors...
...There are limits...
...Sometimes, there's a letter that provokes me to fire off a nasty reply...
...Our own preference, when the criticism is directed at The Progressive itself or at its editors, is to refrain from replying...
...But Kathleen Hart, the free-lance writer who wrote our article on breastfeeding last month, does have a few words of rebuttal in defense of her piece...
...We don't much care for "open letters" addressed to the President of the United States or the Ayatollah Khomeini or anyone else...
...Short letters are more likely to make it into the magazine than long ones—and if we can save some space by editing a letter, we'll do so...
...Surely they must receive them...
...Some avail themselves of this opportunity and some do not...
...In this issue, for example, one correspondent takes me to task for something I wrote a few months ago in a column opposing compulsory national service, and accuses me of holding a "horribly selfish view...
...Still, not everyone seems to understand the guiding principle behind our Letters pages...
...The same reader went on to say he "cannot understand how The Progressive decided" to publish a letter expressing such objectionable views...
...why not share them with the readers...
...We have most of the magazine at our disposal, after all, and readers ought to have the final say someplace...
...Still another reader is furious because we applauded former Governor Toney Anaya for commuting the sentences of prisoners on New Mexico's death row...
...Before signing himself off as "Perplexed," this correspondent asked, "Why did you do it...
...So when a reader comes up with a reasonably concise and rational letter articulating another view—or a different set of facts—we try to make room for that letter in the magazine...
...Reading letters from subscribers is usually the first thing I do when I arrive at The Progressive's office...
...That's the way the Letters section reads almost every month...
Vol. 51 • April 1987 • No. 4
