What drives the letter writers on?
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Re: "Once your name's in print, pop the cork", Letters, January 7.
As one of the compulsive writers of letter to The Nation, I coyly have to admit that ego plays a part. However, no matter how many letters one writes, it is up to The Nation’s editor whether any are printed. It is that judgement that has been the subject of criticism. Publication is a stamp of approval of the writer’s worthiness. It is far different from social networking, where frivolity rules.
A letter is worth printing when there is something in the writer’s thoughts and humour that readers can appreciate. The vile and repetitive ones evoke only disgust, but are now rare in your columns. Oddly, the writers Horace mentions are the ones who tend to be appreciated most.
Besides ego, I have to confess other motives: an attempt to avoid Alzheimer’s disease through active thinking, and free editing of my English. I have also learned a lesson: One should never regard one’s personal thoughts as supreme and beyond challenge.
Songdej Praditsmanont
