QotD: Letters to the editor

Editors love it when you write outraged letters to them, but not for the reasons you might think.

Editors love your outraged letters because it tells they you're reading them.

They love your letters, even when you scold them, because it shows you care.

Editors love printing your letter that takes them to task because it shows they are pleased to balance a large chunk of airtime or copy with a few seconds or inches of dissent.

But the dirty little secret beneath the editors' love for your outraged letter is that means, almost all of the time, that you didn't send that letter to one of the editors' advertisers.

Gerard Vanderleun, "And Now, A Word to Rosie's Sponsors", American Digest, 2007-04-04