Dear critics: You may be right

By Casey Lartigue, Jr.

After I began my professional career back in 1998, it didn't take long before I started receiving angry letters from readers. Through my two decades as a writer, speaker, talk show host, commentator, columnist, researcher, analyst and activist, I have been attacked from more angles than enemy troops at MacArthur's landing at Incheon.

Donald Trump's approach of countering every slight with attacks looks like fun, but I go the Mother Teresa route (attributed): "No matter who says what, you should accept it with a smile and do your own work."

Over two decades I have seen different phases when it comes to comments from angry readers.

Phase 1: Letter writing. Back in the stone ages before the late-1990s, angry critics would write letters. Sometimes they would send a letter to the editor of a newspaper or track down your mailing address.

Some hand-writing was scrawled so I couldn't decipher every curse word and insult. I swear that I could see tears on some of the letters I received. I would politely respond to those with a mailing address, dismissing them as H.L. Mencken supposedly did with pre-printed cards to angry letter writers, with a curt "Dear Sir or Madam. You may be right. Sincerely, Casey Lartigue, Jr."

Anyone reading between the lines could also guess it really meant: But you're probably wrong.

Phase 2: Email. Starting in the mid-1990s, more people were getting on the internet, making it easier for critics to find opposing and offending voices.

I usually respond politely, even to the people who have tried to get me fired from various jobs and told them which supervisor or editor they should contact. I rarely heard from angry letter writers more than once, but when I politely responded to emails, I often received apologetic responses in return.

Phase 3: Internet. That changed everything. No longer at the mercy of newspaper editors who could edit or ignore their letters or mailmen who might lose the letters, the energetic critics on the internet even set up their own podcasts, YouTube channels or blogs. It isn't enough for them to focus on their own activities and lives, they engage in some of the most popular hobbies in history: Criticizing and blaming others.

With so many disgruntled netizens ready to share their unsolicited opinions about everything, the occasional useful point, insight or action item is like searching for a $100 bill of wisdom in a huge pile of manure. Yes, I wouldn't mind the $100, but the process of getting it isn't worth the trouble.

Not only has the internet made it easier for disgruntled people to find you, it also makes it easier for disgruntled netizens to unite in a conspiracy of imbeciles. I can't help but smile watching them, like observing six-year-old debaters finding a common enemy.

Sometimes they will try to troll me directly, but I'm probably a boring target because of my "whatevah" responses. Like Pavlov's angry dog we don't hear about, some critics still bark wildly at the mention of my name. There were a few times that I responded, and they over-reacted like I had stabbed them, so I moved on and got back to work.

I have now blocked enough people on the internet that they could start their own village of idiots, rather than being a solo village idiot. There are more than 7 billion people in the world, I don't need to interact with trolls or conspiracy theorists. There are many pleasant people in this world, why waste time with trolls? When they discuss their interactions with me, I like the story to include the finale, "and then he blocked me on Facebook!"

Not everyone agrees with my approach, some people have criticized me for blocking others on the internet. I'm not going to waste my time hoping for a $100 bill of wisdom from a troll's pile of manure. At times, to make a point, I would go on a rampage against such reasonable people until they blocked me.

I shouldn't admit it, but I do read what the critics say, mainly after being forwarded messages from concerned friends or colleagues. I even give credit to one critic for getting me started in my professional career.

A columnist had written a series of columns accusing me of angling to work at a "right-wing" think tank like Cato. The thought had never crossed my mind, but because he was so concerned, I sent a letter to Cato introducing myself. When I was hired, I sent the angry columnist a thank-you note.

If I ever write an autobiography, I will have an acknowledgements section mentioning him and other clowns who indirectly inspired me. Or perhaps it should be an entire chapter with the title: "Dear critics, You were right. Sincerely, Casey Lartigue, Jr."

Casey Lartigue, Jr., co-founder of the Teach North Korean Refugees Global Education Center (TNKR), is the 2017 winner of the "Social Contribution" Prize from the Hansarang Rural Cultural Foundation and the 2017 winner of the Global Award from Challenge Korea. He can be reached at (CJL@alumni.harvard.edu).

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