brethren priestess online

To: askamy@tribune.com

Dear Amy,

Not a question; just a response:

I just read your column printed in the September 16 issue of my Oakland Tribune, and I was appalled to read your answer to the 14-year-old who took disagreement with your stating that chewing gum during the Olympics is rude. I agree with you on the chewing gum matter, but answering a young teen with a snippy “Of course I’m in a position to judge. We all are.” has hereby reduced my respect for your advice to nil.

Imagine the courage it takes a youngster to write in to a big newspaper – probably the first time in her life – and then imagine the self-doubt and embarrassment she might feel getting such a coarse response from someone she clearly admires enough to read regularly.

She explained herself very well, citing the fact that she often chews gum during sports to relieve the stresses of competition, and suggested that the Olympians might share her form of anxiety relief. In fact, she explained herself humanly (if not adorably) in admitting this and thereby proposing the radical notion that Olympic athletes aren’t all that different than the rest of us – that they may get the jitters during the most important moments of their lives. And you couldn’t bother to affirm her ideas – or at least her right to have them – before shooting it down.

Now, what did you disagree with most?

1. Her belief that gum-chewing isn’t rude.

2. Her assumption that she has the right to see herself on the same level as celebrity athletes.

3. Her daring to challenge the wisdom of a celebrity advice columnist.

Be honest.

Why would you choose to run your response to this particular question if not to prove to the world how arrogant (or perhaps insecure) you are, that you choose to pick on teenagers publicly? Was the letter bag getting empty? (If so, why you would try to alienate a loyal reader is beyond me.) You had already run your response to the original letter, so running it again, just to get in a dig at a child’s expense, is pitiful. Gum-chewing at Olympic medals ceremonies is not a national emergency that requires two separate columns to be addressed. I am equally saddened that the Tribune syndicate offered no editorial guidance for you to tone it down.

If you are still feeling sorry for yourself, feel free to run my letter, with some new snide jabs against me for daring to speak up for a 14-year-old. Maybe it makes you feel better to pick on people who lack the authority of national readership that you have. Just know that we lowly readers still have the power to draw silly mustaches on your picture in our newspapers.

BP’s NOTE: This was submitted to Ms. Amy at the Tribune via email today.  After writing the letter, however, my temper has been further piqued, and I added the middle section, from “She explained herself very well” to “Be honest.”