is it time to begin educating the unwashed masses about our candidates?

[w8liftinglady]

as I ponder my weekly letter to the editor,I watch for the umpteenth time the clip on CNN of Barack shaking his bootie.Is it too soon in the election cycle to get the issues out there,judging by the short attention span of the American citizen?

[msongs]

1. how about we start washing the candidates instead? nt

[cali]

2. could you sound any more elitest? n/t

[w8liftinglady]

4. Oh,give me a break..

if you knew anything about me,you'd know the exact opposite is true.Is it time to educate people,like my neighbors,who have limited access to other news sourcesaside from MSM?

[cali]

5. I'm sorry, it's just a pet peeve of mine

"unwashed masses" "hoi polloi" etc.

[patrice]

7. I don't think you should apologize.

As a person living in a very red state, I can tell you the A#1 thing that makes them shut their minds is this sort of superiority. That doesn't mean that you have to be inferior to relate with them, but just in tune enough to understand how they understand things.

And I personally question the persuasive abilities of a person who doesn't know that when you say ". . . turning our face to ________" means turning **toward** something while ". . . turning our face from ___________" would have meant turning **away** from something. With all due respect to good intentions, this is just a little example of the definition of the word "presumptious", as in being so presumptious of one's own righteousness that one doesn't stop to consider how one's own shortcomings are magnifying those of "the unwashed masses".

[cherokeeprogressive]

8. Access to the Internet makes you cleeeeean huh? n/t

[sam sarrha]

3. and rudy gets donations from vulture funds investers.. LINK..>>

http://milwaukee.indymedia.org/en/2007/10/208476.shtml

[patrice]

6. unwashed? figure-of-speech or not

. . . a condescending attitude is not very persuasive.

[bbgrunt]

9. enough already with the attacks on spelling, grammar and

figures of speech. Change "unwashed" to uninformed and write a LTTE--and good luck, because those who don't wash probably don't read newspapers either. Time for my monthly mouthwash.

[patrice]

11. It doesn't matter whether people make sense or not?

The truth is not a personal "attack"; it's simply a fact. "to" does not mean "from". Indefinite pronoun references confuse readers.

I'm glad that people write LTTEs, but, as in all writing (including my own), the writer should be aware of all of the different kinds of people who may read what she or he has written and how s/he can be misunderstood. Grammar is basically a system that maintains the logical relationships between elements of meaning. If a writer **really** cares about what s/he is trying to say, s/he will become sensitive to ambiguity in meaning and write to avoid it. If what one means doesn't really matter, any words will do, so Grammar is ir-relevant.

[bbgrunt]

13. grammar is important, but piling on the OP instead

of gentle, helpful and encouraging comments is preemptive projection. I was referring more to the snap and arrogant judgments about "unwashed masses" than grammatical corrections.

[patrice]

14. Agreed!!

People also generally don't know that professional writers endure thorough criticism in the pursuit of meaning, so people-in-general don't know how to take critique when they experience it. They do not understand the spirit in which critique is offered. It's not an attack, it's an offering of an opportunity to grow in awareness of what it means to communicate for the **love** of precise meanings. (Don't tell me, I know I'm a dinosaur.)

Professional writers, on the other hand, need to understand that when someone asks for feedback, they, usually, don't really want to hear the details, because they're really just looking for a pat on the back. I guess I'm just not the one to do that when I see harm being done.

The "masses" may, in fact, be less than virtuous, but **IF** we're ever going to do anything about that, we've got to start from where they actually are, rather than where we think they "ought" to be.

[JohnnyLib2]

10. Your letters to the editor are helping educate voters.

You are hereby granted (my) permission to express frustration on this Forum. At your own risk, of course. :hi:

Keep up the good work.

[NC_Nurse]

12. Maybe they wash, but that doesn't make them educated or informed.

Prime example: re-election of GWB.

Keep up the great work, w8liftinglady!