PublishaLetter Blog

Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Mumbai and Bal Thackeray’s comment about him stirred many people to write letters to the editors about Shiv Sena’s role in Mumbai and to a larger extent Maharashtra. Most were critical of the roles played by the various Sena elements. Some samples.

Old age takes man to hate speech. And that is what one could find with Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray - said one letter.

From so many years people have seen Shiv Sena and its Sainiks opposing different political matters in one way only.i.e,they call either for Bandh affecting trade and leading to loss of crores of rupees - said another letter. It continued…They can even stop releasing the movies of some stars who get involved in verbal controversy. But isn’t it amazing that Sena and its Sainiks are not opposing or uttering a word against government that is not taking any action against Kasab responsible for deadly crime in Mumbai.

Another letter said: It has really startled me that the Shiv Sena has claimed violation of their democratic rights when they were not allowed to display the black flags.Have they ever bothered for democratic rights of others when at the behest of muscle power they never even allowed to any citizen to give his views which do not suit their interests.

Coming in partial defense if Shiv Sena, one writer opined:
It is very sad to see that today when we as a nation are dreaming of becoming the number one economy in the world, our politicians are busy playing the dirty game of dividing the citizens of India on the basis of region and language. If Shiv Sena and MNS are culprits of igniting the fire of region based politics in Mumbai, then Congress as a ruling party both in Centre and the state in no less responsible in being a mock spectator of this havoc being created by these parties.

What do you think?

Any article on a polarizing figure like Glen Beck will produce lot of heat. That is expected. What was unexpected about the cover article on Time was the level of anger from the letter writers and how they read the same article so differently. It was, as if, through their own political prisms, they read two different Time articles on Glen Beck. One has to conclude that from a journalistic point of view, the cover story was a success, since people from both sides of the political divide found so much to disagree with ( and so vehemently).

We wonder, if it was a commercial success though - since so many subscriber of the magazine threatened to cancel their subscriptions.

Here are some excerpts from the letters:

I was appalled at the whitewash of Glenn Beck in your current issue. Quoting opposing extreme opinions–as if ALL opinions were legitimate and credible just because they exist–does not substitute for journalism. Journalism involves the responsibility to check out claims and counterclaims and get at the truth of the matter. …
If this magazine can no longer distinguish between an “entertainer” and a rabble-rouser, I have bought my last issue.

Another letter with a different perspective:

You are very opinionated, but it appears your opinion only goes one way - toward our illustrious leader President Obama.  Shame on your for portraying an American who cares about the country and is one of the most patriotic as being some kind of freak.
I am going to be canceling my subscription to your magazine.

And one more opinion on on the state of journalism today:

The desire to turn every story into a partisan battle rather than vet and report facts- as someone failed to do in the piece on Glenn Beck- is the reason people are so distrustful of the media today.

For the full letters please go to Publishaletter.com.

With the oncoming Indian elections, many citizens are writing letters on the subject. They are expressing their frustrations with the corrupt politicians, mushrooming political parties, unreliable voter registration process, aging politicians, illiterate voters, hooliganism, communal influences and a host of other issues. Some are questioning if India even has the right ingredients for a true democracy. At the same time it is clear that everyone is glad that it is an open democracy.The letters make interesting reading and provide a good snapshot of the country’s mood.

One writer suggested an interesting twist. Adopt a two party system, like they have in the US and fold all the existing  parties within those two party folds.

The impeached Governor of Illinois may have turned the state’s politics into a “Freak Show”. The letters to the editor about the Governor, however,  seems to be fairly tame. This is not just true for the letters posted in Publishaletter. A cursory look at the letters published in various publications seem to be also thoughtful and fairly sedate. The passion, anger, anxiety, mudslinging, that cahrecterized many letters during the 2008 elections - both Presidential and local -seems to be missing. What does it mean? Are people more passionate about who gets elected to a public office than the crimes he/she might commit once there?