Reality Check

[jonsi]

I found this letter to the editor in the Santa Fe, The New Mexican newspaper on 5/14/08 and wanted to share:

Reality Check

Regarding your May 10 editorial, "A real world's out there: Wi-Fi is way to join it".

For some of us, the real world orients by nights, days, and seasons. It's physical, visceral, filled with body language and messages from nature.

In the virtual world that your editorial pines for, hands don't have to touch, a billion dollars can relocate internationally faster that a heartbeat. Migraines, insomnia, cancer, Alzheimer's, mass-produced food and plenty of pharmaceuticals are all expected. People who want ongoing face-to-face discourse are irrelevant, even irritating. People with eccentricities get in the way of The Virtual Plan to speed up and connect to cell phones and computers, serve tourists, make money, and exploit the natural world. This plan has no room to hear what nature tells us through our headaches and restlessness.

We're especially disconcerted that you editorial uses the word "different" to evoke disrespect for those in our community who are challenged by the virtual world.

A. Brooke Pyeatt
Katie Singer
Santa Fe
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I also read in the same newspaper that day a headline (AP): Data: Half of insured Americans dose up daily. (Maybe I should be happy I don't have insurance!)
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In the white light,
~jonsi