From: jeremy penner
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2007 11:54 AM
To: Oleson,Tom
Subject: your latest column
Hello Mr. Oleson
Your latest column, the one about eating meat and greenhouse gasses, inspired a discussion between my father and I. Could you clarify something, to solve an argument for us? He told me that your columns often have a somewhat obscure tongue-in-cheek nature, and that this article followed suit. I failed to see the tongue in your cheek, but conceded that it must be impossible for anyone making such absurd leaps of logic to be serious, or have any degree of intelligence. So my question is this, and I'll infer the rest from your answer: did you mean for your column to be taken seriously?
I hope to hear back from you, thank you so much.
Jeremy Penner
On 9/17/07, Oleson,Tom
Dear Mr. Penner:
Your question is so incomprehensively general that it is impossible to answer specifically — "absurd leaps of logic?"
As a general response, I think that you should, as every dutiful son should, listen to your father, who seems to have a better grasp on reality and a better comprehension of what he reads.
Best regards,
Tom Oleson
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Mr. Oleson
Thank you for your reply. I fear that my father is getting to that age where his grasp on reality is not as strong as it once was. As it seems that the two of you might very well be peers, I found it prudent to question you both. To be more specific, the main point in your article that struck me was your assertion that people should eat beef, in order to rid the earth of methane spewing cow anuses. You fail to mention the fact that these cattle are raised specifically to meet the demand of the meat-consuming population. They exist because people eat meat; eating more meat will only result in more cattle being raised, but you seem to imply the opposite.
I realize that in satire this kind of logic is expected, but besides these incredible claims, I saw nothing in your article that indicated you weren't serious. I now must assume that you are correct and I should be trusting my father's superior comprehension of what he reads. He suggested you had your tongue in your cheek, and in that case I should apologize, for I greatly dislike being the person who takes satire at face value. However, I would like to suggest that perhaps, in a world where far more obvious parody often gets taken more seriously, you could stand to be a little less subtle.
Bestest regards,
Jeremy Penner
