E-mails

Wow, I didn't realize how much the blog culture has stepped up since I deleted the first edition of MP last October. I've already gotten two lengthy emails from strangers: one positive, one negative. Truthfully, I'm quite flattered that anyone is reading my blog besides my friends and family. Maybe I never wrote anything controversial before, or maybe nobody cared, but here is the reply I received to a post from the other day:

I read "Fast Food Nation" too, and I saw "Supersize Me", and I've been watching "30 Days". And I'm disturbed that you are angry at people who promote their views, showing heinous pictures, as if those very people are responsible for the acts depicted in those pictures.

You sound like a Nazi sympathizer--"I can't believe those people harassing me about those concentration camps... how dare they try to upset my standard of living with hard facts about the massive slaughter of individuals, collecting their hair and gold fillings..."

Better to come to terms with your conscience, which is obviously in cognitive dissodance mode.

It's freeing when you discover the facts behind something you take for granted (like fast food). The abortion industry makes the fast food industry look like Mother Teresa.

Yikes! A Nazi sympathizer! Mein Gott! Perhaps my feeling about the topic was misconstrued. And anyone who can tell me what "cognitive dissodance mode" is will officially be my new shrink. Or maybe I should hire this anonymous commenter to be my new shrink, who only signed the comment as "a friend". Firstly, reading back over the post, I see that the part I wrote about the pro-life people on the show 30 days may have sounded a bit one-sided and judgemental. I didn't mean for it to sound this way, and I am certainly interested in hearing both sides of every argument. The abortion debate could go back and forth forever and ever and nobody would ever be right. I'm not supportive, however, of people who harrass women going into abortion clinics or people who put bombs in these clinics. That's what I think about that.
Secondly, I don't think that reading this book has "upset my standard of living." I don't eat fast food. I live in a city where I can walk or take the train many miles without seeing a fast food restaurant. Yet, the fast food industry still affects me. I don't like the fact that I can't take a train to my hometown to visit my parents. I don't like the fact that I have to own a car. I don't like the fact that my grandpa died of obesity. Reading this book hasn't changed anything about the way I live, rather it has given me solid facts about why things are the way they are. To me, this isn't freeing, because it's something I'd like to change, and I know I can't.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that if I came off sounding irritated that these things shook me up so much, that isn't the case. I read everything I can get my hands on; I like to know what is going on in my world. I think I have been surprised at the reaction and turbulence that I feel in the very core of my being. I feel more responsible for the way my actions affect others and the world around me, because in lots of situations, it was a single person's ideas and actions that spawned major events (such as the Holocaust!). I feel more compelled to live a life that is concscious of what is going on around me.
So anyway, now that I got that out, we can go back to our regularly scheduled programming of me talking about my neuroses and fun weekend activities. I'll try to stay away from the "issues" if I can, because this blog is supposed to be fun and funny. Stay tuned for some words about my trip to Greekfest yesterday and pictures of dead animals on spits (animal activists can feel free to voice their hatred, just don't expect to get your comment published on the blog).

P.S. I visited Dachau while in Munich several years ago and it was horrifying. Truly a life changing experience. So I really took that e-mail to heart. Perhaps the title of my blog gave our anonymous reader the impression that I'm some sort of "princess" who leads a sheltered life of luxury. I'd like that reader to examine their own conscience next time they call someone a "Nazi sympathizer" from reading one blog posting on a personal website. My suggestion to you, reader: take it somewhere else where your voice might acutally be useful.