> It was with great dismay that I heard political conservatives
> referred to as "right-wing droolers" in IE Episode 5, in the
> CyClones review. [ACTUALLY, IT WAS A PREVIEW - ED.] Worse, we
> conservatives were unjustly being accused of trying to stop the
> release of games like Doom and Mortal Kombat, which contain
> gratuitous violence.
>
> Please allow me to enumerate my specific comments:
>
> First, I am a political conservative with a documented IQ of
> 165. While that qualifies me to sit on the right-hand side of
> the aisle, it hardly makes me a "drooler." I am therefore
> inclined to take offense at such an off-hand, inconsiderate
> slur. How far do you expect to get insulting the customer? (No,
> you can't claim it was humor, because it wasn't funny. And
> before you characterize me as a person with no sense of humor,
> I should let you know that I've written extremely funny back
> pages for PC Techniques magazine, so I DO have a sense of
> humor. I'm funnier than your whole staff put together.)
>
>  . . . Secondly, political comments in a publication such as
> yours are out of place, and border on the irresponsible. Your
> mission is (pardon me, SHOULD BE) to review CD entertainment,
> not to promote a political agenda. While you (and the rest of
> the staff) are certainly entitled to hold any political
> opinions you deem necessary and worthy, you have no right or
> mandate to foist them off on the paying customers. I pay money
> to find out what you think about the disks on the market, not
> how you feel about Rush Limbaugh.
>
> Finally, the gun-control and politically-correct crowds are the
> ones ranting about the violence of Doom and Mortal Kombat. You
> might find a few Christian fundamentalists complaining about
> the Satanic themes and imagery in Doom, but (at least in the
> South) politically they're split between conservatives and
> liberals. I realize it's in vogue to blame conservatives like
> me for everything wrong in society, but I think it's even more
> in vogue to GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT.
>
> Say what you want about the games and edutainment packages.
> Just leave politics out of it. Don't force me to choose to not
> buy your product.
>
> J.B.M
> DeLand, FL

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I confess that, upon reading your letter, I am torn. On the one hand, I'd love for IE to be able to please everyone and offend no one. On the other, I am an adult and a realist, and I know that no matter HOW hard one may try to avoid making inflammatory remarks, you're bound to annoy SOMEBODY. So I hope you'll forgive me that I find it difficult to feel overwhelmingly guilty about the article in question.

First, let's consider the comment which seems to have offended you. The exact phrase, I believe, was "despite the vociferous opposition of closed-minded right-wing droolers everywhere." I apologize if I'm being obtuse, but it seems to me that this applies not to conservatives in general, but to a very specific SUBSET of conservatives. I therefore see no reason why it should offend anyone unless they choose to lump themselves in with that select group. I further see no reason why you would want to make that choice; your fax is clearly devoid of drool and I would say that the jury is still out on your closed-mindedness. As for vociferous opposition, you have, I think, sufficiently demonstrated a lack of such toward any computer product except, perhaps, IE. Hmm.

While I agree that "promoting our political agenda" is inappropriate as the focus of a magazine which presumes to review computer games, I hardly think that one offhand remark constitutes a vile brainwashing attempt. Sure, had it been a ten-minute diatribe about how conservative political forces are corrupting the gaming industry to the detriment of its consumers, but one crack? Come on! Are you going to try and tell me you've never made a wisecrack about left-wing radical beatnik hippies that might, perhaps, have come across to some as stronger than you intended it?

I'm sorry if we offended you, but I can't be sorry that the comment in question was published in IE. We aren't Politically Correct. Most people seem to like that about us (even you, in fact, express disdain for such foolishness). As such, we walk a very fine line between blandness and offensiveness. We're occasionally going to slip off the edge, and if we must do so, I'd prefer that we not err in the favor of blandness - that WOULD qualify us as politically correct. So please, lighten up. (Remember, we can't pick on the liberals - they're way too sensitive :-) And if you really ARE funnier than our whole staff, next time you write us a letter, why not take a crack at making fun of US? There's certainly plenty of material worthy of satire in IE, the least of which is our occasional Republican-bashing. Give it a shot. Besides, I'd like to think that this would make your point better than any rant ever would.

T.K.

DISCLAIMER: ANY POTENTIALLY RACIST, SEXIST, AGEIST OR OTHERWISE BIASED OR PREJUDICED COMMENTS IN THE PRECEDING REPLY ARE INCLUDED SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE OF MAKING A POINT IN A HUMOROUS FASHION. NONE OF THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED HEREIN ARE THOSE OF IE, ITS PARENT COMPANY, OR EVEN THE AUTHOR. THEY ARE TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY FAKE. IN CASES WHERE THIS MAY BE UNCLEAR, THE AUTHOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO USE A SMILEY-FACE [ :-) ] TO INDICATE THAT THE COMMENT IN QUESTION IS IN NO WAY, SHAPE OR FORM INTENDED TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY.