You've got mail, Pam

Yes, I Do Get Email
By Joseph Walther

Yes, I get email! I began this endeavor as a means of keeping me off the streets in my retirement years. I wrote a few columns toward the end of 2004, but didn’t start publishing on a weekly basis until January of 2005. The volume of email has grown from an average of 50-125 a week at the beginning to a current average of 800-1,200 a week. If I choose one of the hot button topics—religion, homosexuality, abortion, capital punishment, or evolution—the email volume goes to 3,000-6,200 for that week. When I stick to humor, the email volume remains constant at around 1,850 per week.

The current volume of email makes it impossible for me to respond to all of them. I view all of them, however. I can usually tell within the first sentence of a reply whether it’s worth reading. If I think it is, I save it in a “Read Later” file. I spend about an hour a day, Monday through Saturday working on that file. I respond to at least half of those emails.

For the record, I publish a column in a modified BLOG format; meaning that I do not permit comments to appear as part of the BLOG. I do this to prevent the mindless hissy fitters from taking over the asylum. Readers may comment all they want by sending email to me directly through publisher@thetruefacts.com.

I publish through Blogdrive.com, a fee-charging site. I use a “pay site” because it provides me with invaluable site statistics and a registration database. Those statistics show me a count that has gone from a monthly average of 5,200 hits last year to a weekly average of 66,000 hits currently. About 32% of the hits (around 21,000) are from Delaware. About 10% (around 6,500) are from outside of the United States. The remaining 58% (around 32,000) come from outside of Delaware but within the United States.

I like to share some of the mail with you on occasion. Much of it is sincere and well written, expressing valid opposing viewpoints. Some of it is harmless but absurdly funny. At any rate, here is a small sampling of what I have received AND answered. I don’t include email addresses or full names because lawsuits tend to screw up otherwise great days.

The first one is serious. Jessica wrote quite a long email and she deserves a detailed answer.

Jessica wrote from Kent County, Delaware, “Why do you pick on “public school administrators so much? You seem to come down especially hard on community colleges. I attend a community college and it is a fantastic school.”

This is a fair question, Jessica. First, I’ve always restricted my criticism to SENIOR administrators. Since you live in the Dover, Delaware area, I am going to assume that you attend Delaware Technical and Community College. Delaware Tech is the only community college in Delaware. It’s a fantastic school! Its programs are superior and among the finest in the country. Its faculty consists of well-credentialed, dedicated, student-oriented professionals. The entire support staff is the best.

On the negative side, however, is the fact that a President’s Council, consisting of the College President and his merry band of vice presidents, run Delaware Tech. He has an ego the size of the Grand Canyon coupled with a surplus of arrogance and a matching temper. The rest of the council, with two exceptions, would rather undergo limb amputations without anesthesia than question or disagree with him on anything.

An appointed Board of Trustees sets College Policy and oversees this group. However, he “built” the board using some clever political skills. Consequently, college policy is whatever he decrees. You can bet that only ensconced “team” players, defined as those who blindly endorse his agenda, will make it to the administrative ranks. The result is a perpetuation of the self-absorbed to ensure that people do things the way that “we’ve always done them.”

I don’t question his dedication. He is dedicated, heart and soul, to Delaware Technical and Community College. I also think that tradition is a fine thing to preserve. I even think that it should be a consideration when making management decisions. However, it should have a vote, not a veto. Blind adherence to tradition for its own sake and the perpetual promotion of parroting morons does nothing but stifle the influx of refreshingly energetic new blood and new ideas.

Jessica, I wish you the best as you pursue your goals. You made a great choice with Delaware Tech. It continues to excel precisely because of highly motivated students, outstanding faculty dedicated to high academic standards and the ultimate success of the students, and a fine support staff that considers these as a prime directive.

Delaware Technical and Community College continuously succeeds in its mission despite the present mindset of its senior administration, minus the two members I referred to above.

As for the rest of our public school administrators, did you know that back in the olden times (1960-70) there were only two layers of administrative management between a school principal and the governing school board? Yes, back then school boards hired principals based on real management skills and held them accountable. A school principal could actually hire and fire teachers based on competency and they did not hesitate to do this. The kids learned with virtually no interruption from disciplinary problems.

In other words, a small and effective group of administrative managers oversaw and supported a large group of well-qualified and effective educators. The public school system was effective and valuable. Well, it has changed for the worse!

Today, there are thirty-two layers of administrative management between a school principal and a governing school board. The roles have reversed. The teachers have become slaves to an unmanageable cabal, dedicated to spewing out endless volumes of ineffective bureaucratic nonsense with the sole purpose of perpetuating incompetence.

Today, teachers fear the students. School administrators are afraid of school boards. School boards are afraid of the parents. And, the students are afraid of no one!

Sister Wilma from Arizona wrote, “Statistics indicate that about 74% of the world’s population believes in God and an afterlife. However, if I read your writing correctly, you think that they are all wrong. Don’t you think that constitutes unmitigated arrogance?”

Sister, I cannot find a single column where I said any such thing. I have said several times that I don’t know if there’s a God and/or an afterlife. Certainly, you have to know that either God exists or doesn’t. We call this an absolute. Absolutes are not subject to popular opinions, pro or con. If God exists, it doesn’t matter that 26% of the world’s population disagrees. Conversely, if God does not exist, neither does it matter that 74% of the world’s population disagrees.

I have no problems with what people wish to believe relative to religion. Whatever those beliefs, they remain a matter of faith, not science. This said, I would tell you emphatically that I think that anyone who believes that God created the planet Earth and all of its inhabitants around 10,000 years ago is a moron. Whoever came up with that one had a personal agenda.

The question is whether God created man in His image or did man create God in his image? Regardless, if it’s a case of the latter, it had to be men because no self-respecting woman would put herself into such a ridiculously helpless subservient role. The image of a cantankerous and vindictive bearded old dude floating around the heavens tossing fireballs, floods, and strokes at people who piss Him off does not make sense or seem like the actions of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and benevolent Diety.

Conversely, it sounds precisely like what man would do. I’ve met a few of these dudes. In fact, I described one of them a few paragraphs back. Thankfully, he has not mastered the art of tossing fireballs, floods, or strokes at people, but he certainly knows how to vent his rage at security guards when someone unknowingly parks in his assigned parking place. However, he firmly believes that he’s omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and benevolent.

Badbaddude from Florida wrote, “You gotta be some pinko liberal the way you always knock bush and the war in erack. Why don’t you shut the fuck up.”

Well, badbaddude, I am knocking myself out here. But, try as I might, I can’t think of a single word small enough for you to understand. I’ll let it go at that.

Freakymonster (I’m not making this up.) from Georgia wrote, “Do you think it’s possible for a human being to defy gravity through the use of will power alone?”

Freakymonster, do you know the difference between a slim chance of something happening and a fat chance? A slim chance, while not at all encouraging, is slightly better than a fat chance. Fat chance!

I’ll relate more emails in a later column. Have a great week.

Joseph Walther is a freelance writer and publisher of The True Facts. Send email to: publisher@thetruefacts.com