You see, dear readers, a while back I posted a rather screechy screed about a woman's even screechier screed of a letter to a newspaper editor.
Well, as it turns out, it's a hoax. A sham. Someone has pulled the wool over my eyes and pantsed me in the center of town for all the world to see. As Paul would say, I've been "jerseyed." And the vile person responsible for this jerseying is non-other than Alice Shannon.
Weeks later we received the following letter from Ms. Shannon:Well now... That's something. Of course, Ms. Shannon could have also realized that she was looking like a complete idiot in the newspaper and claimed it was a hoax so as to protect herself, but I've still got a tiny smidgen of faith in humanity to think that it was most likely a hoax from the get-go.
“While I’ve been thoroughly entertained by the overwhelming number of passionate responses to my January 29th letter, it should probably be noted that, as at least one writer speculated, it was a complete joke. I think it has run its course and at this time space in the Letters to the Editor section should be reserved for more important issues.â€
Now we were angry. Numerous attempts to contact Ms. Shannon proved the letter was a hoax, and we stopped printing any letters referring to hers. Shortly afterward, we received a letter from a person telling us the same letter was found in a blog from a woman from South Carolina, and he sent us the Web address.
On the other hand (and you just know there has always got to be another hand, don't you?), it doesn't take much searching to find genuine, legitimate examples of hate directed toward atheists. So, if nothing else, Ms. Shannon's "joke" is actually a reflection of a rather common sentiment.
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Posted By Dan to The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind at 9/26/2007 06:56:00 AM
Glad to hear it's most likely a hoax, but she STILL wrote and submitted it, or someone did, still had to have put these ideas onto paper (or screen). I hope she doesn't believe in what was written, but it is still sad that the element of hate or the ability to laugh at the possibility, still seems to exist. No one should be hated or scorned for his or her beliefs or non-beliefs.
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