'Manchurian editor' writes from the Gulag

One thing I have learned from online reader comments is that I don't really need to write my column at all to enjoy the privilege of having people criticize me and call me a pinhead.

After all, many of the most critical comments about me don't respond to the arguments in my column, but rather to some imaginary bugaboo that the reader invents in order to scare people.

My favorite of these is the one where I am the "Manchurian editor," being carefully manipulated by brainwashing goons to repeat the words and ideas of certain black-suited men with big bank accounts and hearts of steel.

An anonymous letter (the snail-mail equivalent of reader comments' sent to me one time warned me that "it's time [for you] to leave" the U.S. because of my willingness to publicly discuss my concerns about our country.

"One can certainly understand your dark and foreboding mood working in a complete dictatorship controlled by the Hagadone monopoly… It's obvious you lack the freedom of self-expression in the totalitarian system paying your salary."

Huh? I think the paranoia dripping off of that letter's conspiracy theories can win the "dark and foreboding" contest hands down. I'm not in the same league.

But hey, for the record, no one has ever told me what to write in this column, and no one ever will. It's a personal column reflecting my own interests, and to the Hagadone Corporation's credit, no one has ever tried to influence this column in any way, nor does the company exert any kind of content control over our newsroom, although they do graciously pay our salary each week, for which we are grateful.

Here's another example of the vitriolic nonsense that gets thrown my way, this time from an online comment:

"Frank must appease his masters, no doubt about that and certainly the owners of the DIL believe they are part of the ruling elite. Read any of the DIL articles to get a sense of their propaganda. It's in your face and backed up by responses of minions."

An overactive imagination is a terrible thing to waste, isn't it? Too bad this reader doesn't write suspense thrillers. His ability to make stuff up is obviously as good as Tom Clancy's. First of all, I don't have "masters' - thanks to Lincoln, the guy who freed the slaves. Second, the owners of the Inter Lake don't provide any of the propaganda used in Inter Lake news articles. That is actually supplied by purple space aliens 'sarcasm intended). Fortunately, the corporate overlords are busy running a business, which leads me to again confess that I get paid on a regular basis (filthy lucre, but still fairly handy in the material world).

By the way, this particular reader's comment also included the following statement: "Antagonistic statements are often deleted." Not true, but this comment was indeed removed, and I should explain why. It included an anti-Semitic comment. Hate speech may or may not deserve to be a crime, but it always deserves to be reviled, and it will always be removed from our Website whenever we find it.

And now that this column is ready to be posted online, I eagerly wait to see how I have failed the human race once again. My mother told me there would be days like this, and for me apparently they fall every Sunday.

n Frank Miele is managing editor of the Daily Inter Lake and writes a weekly column. E-mail responses may be sent to edit@dailyinterlake.com