We Get Letters

I receive a fair amount of email from American's overseas. Some of them tell me that it's perfectly fine if I pass along the stories they have to tell, and I respond to all of them the same way.

Thanks. I'm sure that most of the folks who stop by here would be interested in hearing about the going's on in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I ask but two things. Never censor yourself, or worry about salty language is the first, and LEARN HOW TO SPELL is the second.

Now, I'm not the greatest speller on God's green earth but I know the relatively simple words, and typos are typos so that's that. What I WON'T do is spend hours a day editing letters because I'm ashamed to say that so and so from such and such is in the service, has at least a High School diploma, and doesn't know that "Yes, Maim," looks too stupid for words to describe.

Attention to detail. The entire civilized world believes Americans to be redneck cowboys without a semblance of class or sophistication, and firearm aficianado's...military, law enforcement, or private citizens...are the dumbest of the dumb. I won't perpetuate a stereotype, and won't spend my time copying, pasting, then running spellcheck because someone else was too lazy to do so.

Tried it lots and will not do it again. Today I worked on several interesting mails from hot zones, then stopped and deleted the whole shebang. It's bad enough I wince through gun-boards where 99% of the postings are from men who write on the level of slow 3rd graders, and I will not pass along gibberish for the sake of seeming to be an insider.

I like to share, but enough is enough. This isn't meant as an insult to anyone, but everyone knows that I detest sloppiness and if taking the time to at least get the easy words correct is too much of a hassle, then so be it. I'll continue to read everything, but am done with trying to make something unintelligible seem at least halfass readable.

Rant over.