Salon | Letters to the editor

_______________MAIL ROOM DISPATCH ...

The president was acquitted, the weekend was long and overall it was a quiet week for Salon's mailroom. It might have stayed that way, too, if not for Jerry Falwell's dire warning to parents that Teletubby Tinky Winky served as a gay role model to barely sentient infants. Readers wrote not only to debate whether Tinky even had a gender to bend, but also to point out other gay cartoon characters (Peppermint Patty, who knew?) and to question whether the left was hypocritical in its mockery of the Rev.
Linda Tripp may have been hit by the ugly bus, but readers vehemently deny that that has any bearing on her role in Ken Starr's rapidly fizzling investigation. Many responded angrily to Gary Kamiya's description of Tripp's face as one "that conjured up unfortunate images of a cackling hag stirring hideous ingredients in a big iron pot." Looks don't matter, was the overwhelming consensus. Perhaps someone should have told Tripp that before she spent a fortune on a makeover.
In the past, readers have had less than kind words for New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. But what of the mayor of SimCity? John Emerson wrote to complain about the totalitarian position that mayors-for-life of the virtual city (this is a game, after all) are put in. Today, Joel Turnipseed presents the other side of the SimCity debate. Also today, Stan and Jan Berenstain weigh in on the claim that their successful children's series, "The Berenstain Bears," is sexist against men.

_______________BEARLY THERE BY KATHRYN OLNEY (02/02/99)

Kathryn Olney would be an excellent candidate for appointment to a committee of blind persons designated to examine an elephant. The elephant, in this case, being the admittedly large body of work comprising the Berenstain Bears series of children's books of which we are the authors.
Without even considering the merits of Olney's principle charge -- that we have libeled that class of parents known as fathers -- we state on the advice of counsel that the truth is an absolute defense against the charge of libel. Since the portrayal of Papa Bear is largely autobiographical, we can vouch absolutely for its accuracy.
We suggest in as kindly a manner as possible that the author of the piece take off her blinders and examine the whole elephant. Of the more than ten-score Berenstain Bears books we have published, less than 20 titles are "autobiographical," i.e., portraying Papa Bear in the comic fall-guy light that Olney rails against. There are literally dozens of our books in which Papa Bear's parental behavior is beyond reproach (titles available on request).
We regret that Olney is offended by some of our books. But we are consoling ourselves with the knowledge that the only thing nobody doesn't like is Sara Lee.
Oh, yes, among the many factual errors in the piece is the statement that our series has sold 220 million books. We are happy to report that series sales have reached 245 million.
-- Stan and Jan Berenstain
N E X T+P A G E+| How Clinton won the heart of America; and is SimCity a dictatorship?

_______________MAIL ROOM DISPATCH ...
	The president was acquitted, the weekend was long and overall it was a quiet week for Salon's mailroom. It might have stayed that way, too, if not for Jerry Falwell's dire warning to parents that Teletubby Tinky Winky served as a gay role model to barely sentient infants. Readers wrote not only to debate whether Tinky even had a gender to bend, but also to point out other gay cartoon characters (Peppermint Patty, who knew?) and to question whether the left was hypocritical in its mockery of the Rev. Linda Tripp may have been hit by the ugly bus, but readers vehemently deny that that has any bearing on her role in Ken Starr's rapidly fizzling investigation. Many responded angrily to Gary Kamiya's description of Tripp's face as one "that conjured up unfortunate images of a cackling hag stirring hideous ingredients in a big iron pot." Looks don't matter, was the overwhelming consensus. Perhaps someone should have told Tripp that before she spent a fortune on a makeover. In the past, readers have had less than kind words for New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. But what of the mayor of SimCity? John Emerson wrote to complain about the totalitarian position that mayors-for-life of the virtual city (this is a game, after all) are put in. Today, Joel Turnipseed presents the other side of the SimCity debate. Also today, Stan and Jan Berenstain weigh in on the claim that their successful children's series, "The Berenstain Bears," is sexist against men.
_______________BEARLY THERE BY KATHRYN OLNEY (02/02/99)
	Kathryn Olney would be an excellent candidate for appointment to a committee of blind persons designated to examine an elephant. The elephant, in this case, being the admittedly large body of work comprising the Berenstain Bears series of children's books of which we are the authors. Without even considering the merits of Olney's principle charge -- that we have libeled that class of parents known as fathers -- we state on the advice of counsel that the truth is an absolute defense against the charge of libel. Since the portrayal of Papa Bear is largely autobiographical, we can vouch absolutely for its accuracy. We suggest in as kindly a manner as possible that the author of the piece take off her blinders and examine the whole elephant. Of the more than ten-score Berenstain Bears books we have published, less than 20 titles are "autobiographical," i.e., portraying Papa Bear in the comic fall-guy light that Olney rails against. There are literally dozens of our books in which Papa Bear's parental behavior is beyond reproach (titles available on request). We regret that Olney is offended by some of our books. But we are consoling ourselves with the knowledge that the only thing nobody doesn't like is Sara Lee. Oh, yes, among the many factual errors in the piece is the statement that our series has sold 220 million books. We are happy to report that series sales have reached 245 million. -- Stan and Jan Berenstain N E X T+P A G E+\| How Clinton won the heart of America; and is SimCity a dictatorship?