As a long time reader of the paper and electronic versions of the Times, I think the new design of the physical, dropped-daily-at-my-curb paper is horrible.

Mismatched fonts and type sizes. Meaningless, multiple levels of headlines. My full rant is here: http://cruftbox.com/blog/archives/001349.html

I will longer read Joel Stein's column. I don't need someone to talk AT me. I haven't needed THAT kind of treatment since I was a child.

I agree with you, Joel Stein. The problem is I have the urge to tell you! Take the column, pin it up by the water cooler/coffee machine, and talk to tyour colleagues about the issues of the day.

I haven't read Joel Stein's column for a long time. He's boring. I made an exception today. So, Joel does not want to hear from me. Great. I don't want to hear from him. I'll continue skipping right by his work in search of something better worth my time.

As a journalist I agree with Joel, our job is not to appreciate or reiterate the opinions of the undereducated American populous who thinks because they watch their local FOX affilliaite as they put on their Carhart shirt and Timberland boots every morning they are an expert. Our job is to tell you the story from our point of view, and your job is to know we are smarter than you, and we are right.

Kudos for speaking your mind.

To Mr. Stein,

(Egad, he says, not another letter! Didn’t I just vent about this?)

(Patience, please, sir. This will only take a minute...)

When I first read your column, my first thought was that you must have woken up on the wrong side of the typewriter this morning and that I should offer my condolences.

After reading the column again, I reconsidered and thought about describing what you could do with yourself and the horse you rode in on.

Upon further reflection, I considered the public at large and have decided to go easy on you.

I can see how receiving ton of e-mails from John Q. Public in this day and age would get tiresome. E-mails can be quite plebeian, can't they? One does not even have to go through the trouble of looking up the LA Times street address or buy a stamp: one just has to hit "send." I wonder how many people even bother to spell-check what they send you.

However, I do take exception to the statement: "There is no practical reason to send your rants to me." For one thing, sir, out of the four or five hours of e-mails you sift through daily, you're saying there is not one that piques your interest? A counterpoint that makes you reconsider your point of view? Be careful, Mr. Stein, your vacuum-sealed closed mind is showing. If only I could be as sure of myself. You're a lucky man.

Also, while I think your suggestions on how to respond to your column are valid (e.g. letters to the editor, bathroom mirror (how would one mail that?)), I think there are circumstances that would call for a private e-mail address. Fan mail, for example. I've been a fan of yours for years, but now how do I show my appreciation? No newspaper editor in their right mind would print a letter saying, "Hey, Joel Stein is a terrific columnist." Where's the juicy, newspaper-selling controversy in that? Also, some of us are shy by nature, and are uncomfortable publicly drooling. Alas, I must now forever keep silent.

I'm not sure what your motivations were in printing this column (desire to churn the waters, fed up with hate e-mail, slow news day, a writer's needy desperate cry for help), but there is a critical difference between you and the bloggers. Blogs are needles in a haystack. Publishing your views in the technological throwback of newsprint (and on the LA Times Internet website) means widespread coverage. Public feedback is the price you pay for being public. Do you really think you'd be happier if you didn't hear a word? How would you know you were getting through to anyone? Or, are your columns for entertainment purposes only, not to be taken seriously? (Boy, I would feel like a dope, after all these years to find out your opinions have no more substance than Miss Cleo's...)

In conclusion: yes, I'm afraid my essay (read: opinion) is just as valuable as yours, Mr. Stein. I'm just not lucky enough to get paid for voicing mine.

Regards,

W.

PS- Spring break is coming soon, monsieur, and I've always wanted to see America...

In a world that has to many talking heads that talk at you and then lie about it, I would like to say "thanks" for being honest. You have always had a skewed since of the world and at times you are just plain wrong but you have to love a guy that will at least tell you what he actually thinks.

Hey, can I have my act back?

No need to reply

Heh. Alright JS...you are a tribute to the hilarious and curmudgeonly. This is even better than e-mail. Will you actually read it?

Hi Joel.

I don't read your column but I have seen you make some rather questionable appearances on some of those "BEST OF" shows on E and VH1.

My comment is quite shallow. I am wondering why you don't do something about your rather drab appearance. I understand that you're a writer, but if you are going to be on TV let's go ahead and get a stylist to give you a little make-over. Start with the hair, what's left and work your way down. You are in the make-over capitol of the world. Take advantage.

Have a Happy New Year and here's to a new you in 2007.

Khylah

Khylah

Is Mr. Stein a humour columnist?

I like JS, but he occasionally jars me into wondering whether I'm still reading satire. This leaves me on the fence about whether he's ground-breaking or just groping too hard. I'll e-mail him and see what he thinks.

I've been reading Joel Stein since his TIME days and was overjoyed to see he had joined the LA Times editorial staff. Stein his hilariously sarcastic. If some readers don't get him, then that's their loss and I feel sorry for them.

Joel Stein's columns have been going downhill. Arrogance, irreverence, exaggerating one's shortcomings for comic effect - these are all things that I like or can easily bear. The problem is, instead of writing columns with several funny ideas, Mr. Stein is now allocating one idea per column and by the end of the column the idea seems pretty lame, while it would seem pretty funny if it wasn't overworked and was surrounded by a few more equally funny ideas. We know you're not a workaholic, Joel, but try to come up with three or four funny ideas and work them all into one column. You could email it to your mom!

All I have to say is kudos to Mister Stein. Great article. I've never had cause to read him before, nor will I again most likely, but I think he makes an excellent point.

Joel has a point about editorials not being conversation starters. That having been said, one really has to question the wisdom of devoting an entire editorial to telling your readership how much they don't matter to you and how much you don't care about their opinion.

What a useless piece of nothing obviously from some person with too much time on his hands and with all the stories in the mainstream that one could write about he turns to typing useless sentences. Donald Trump has a phrase for persons that have nothing better to do than waste time, "...Your Fired."

Haha. Right

"...friendship is a stranger who thanks you for the MySpace add"

It's scary how many people actually function that way. peace.

Thanks for the heads-up, Joel. I've often read your column in the past, but was unaware of your contempt for your readers.

No one expects you to read and respond to all of the emails in your work inbox. In fact, you could have just set an autoreply message to let the people who took the time to read your article know that you value their opinions (even if you don't), but that you can't answer every email personally.

I'll make sure to avoid your columns from now on, and I probably won't be the only one. This may only decrease your page views by a few percent... I'm sure the Times won't mind the lost revenue.

Dear Joel,
It's too early in the year to be so angry. Might I suggest a therapist for you?

Brilliant. Amen to your grumpy humor, Joel. March on.

Poor Joel... You can certainly "talk" at me, "but you gotta ask me nicely..." My real "beef" with Joel, well, he's just booring.

I think it's about time a journalist was honest! I know for sure that none of the unsollicited and unwanted emails that I constantly send, which could be seen as harrassment by some sissies, are never read, and completely unappreciated. But I will continue to bother as many people as possible till I die, and that won't be for a long long time, buddy!

Mr. Stein - you should probably be concerned when you don't receive any emails. That would indicate that you are irrelevent - the worst thing for a writer. Tomorrow, you may find that out.

Joel, You were so funny when you wrote for Time and Entertainment Weekly. What has LA done to steal your soul? Nobody picking up your pitches? Too many supermodels hotter than your wife? Lose the bitter, get back the funny.

Joel Stein, you, sir, rule. Got me rolling on the floor for that piece. Fan-frelling-tastic! :)

I love Joel Stein and look forward to reading his column every week.

I agree 100%. I'm glad Stein had the courage to say what I suspect the vast majority of journalists are thinking.

A letter to the editor is the appropriate way for a reader to respond to any editorial material. If your message is well-written and cogent, you might even get a response from the journalist. It's the "well-written" and "cogent" parts which trip up most people.

It isn't just that I truly understand you, Joel, it's that I own you. I purchased the patent for your DNA, and I intend -- in stages, mind you -- to unleash a legion of Joel Steins on the world. In 2008. Or 2009. But I will. It's the sixth thing on my list. The first four have been crossed off, to date. Number five will take a little time, so be patient. But you're six. Really. Anyway, thank you Joel. Just be Joel. That's all I ask.

Who is this Joel Stein guy? I've never heard of him before.

Joel Stein, you suck. There must not have been any new developments in the porn industry or L.A. pulp culture for you to write about. Your rant, Joel, is useless. I would be knocked over with a feather if you actually wrote about anything substantive -- your column is nothing but birdcage-lining fluff. I hope this bulletin board sounds YOUR death knell, you troglodyte.

Today I learned that another actress on Desperate Housewives got a book deal. As an author without an agent, I just shook my head in disgust. But, now Joel has pushed me over the edge. An author with a paying job, berating the people who read his work and bragging (albeit tongue in cheek) about his arrogance is enough to send me screaming into the woods.

Solipsistic! Good grief, get over yourself.

That was seriously the funniest column I've read in a long time. Thanks for giving me a laugh at work. A new Joel Stein fan is born every day.

Joel Stein doesn't really exist.

NOBODY, not even a seventh-grader, could possibly be that puerile.

He's either a computer program, like Serdar Argic, or a sock puppet.

Joel Stein's article: who cares. Seems pretty straightforward. However, this Ryan Fishman guy sounds like a real jerk:
---
"As a journalist I agree with Joel, our job is not to appreciate or reiterate the opinions of the undereducated American populous who thinks because they watch their local FOX affilliaite as they put on their Carhart shirt and Timberland boots every morning they are an expert. Our job is to tell you the story from our point of view, and your job is to know we are smarter than you, and we are right."
---
I take issue with the use of the word "journalist" - that may be the job of an op-ed columnist (ie. Joel), but journalists in general are supposed at least attempt to report the facts, not their holier-than-thou personal opinion. This Fishman character comes off sounding like classist smarm. If he hates the "American populous" so much, why would he bother to tell them any story?

I'll avoid anything written by Mr. Stein from this point on.

I've been a little in love with JS since I was 13 and reading TIME religiously.

I've always loved funny, jewish, dorky looking guys.

And it's funny that the one time you've told people not to write you...is the first time I've taken the time to do so.

Of course.

Amen, brother.

In the tech community, you have a number of bloggers (most notably, John Dvorak), who have a tendency to say the most outrageous comments about certain technologies or tech companies (i.e. Linux sucks, Microsofts, etc.). Usually such comments are quickly forwarded to many online communities (i.e. slashdot, digg, etc); aficianados or haters of the aforemention companies and/or technologies would swarm the blogger's page, voicing their disgust, diatribe, love or zealotry for them. Meanwhile, the adviews of the blogger goes up, thus bringing in monetary benefits to the said demagogue.

Of course, whether this is the case with this matter remains to be the seen:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

http://adblock.mozdev.org/

I'll go Joel Stein one further: I don't care about what the readers think, either! I'm interested in what trained professionals think about the topics of the day. I am most definitely not interested in what some yokel from Thousand Oaks thinks about Iraq. Tell it to your therapist, but leave Joel and me out of it.

I didn't even know Joel Stein still wrote for the Times until I followed a link this morning. And this isn't a bad example of an "I'm going to see what I write that will piss off the most people column."

I really enjoyed it, for once.

The problem is - it's the only kind of column he knows how to write

I didn't even know Joel Stein still wrote for the Times until I followed a link this morning. And this isn't a bad example of an "I'm going to see what I write that will piss off the most people column."

I really enjoyed it, for once.

The problem is - it's the only kind of column he knows how to write

"Some newspapers even list the phone numbers of their reporters at the end of their articles. That's a smart use of their employees' time."

Oh yeah, God forbid that someone might phone with a valuable news tip. Better to get back to rewriting press releases.

I'll go one even further: not only do I not care what Joel Stein thinks, and therefore regularly read his column, I don't care what I myself think, and therefore frequently offer up my unsolicited opinion.

I like this better, because I don't care if Joel reads my e-mail. I only care if people see this message and then look at my blog, which is at http://kurinboism.blogspot.com.

Joel Stein's column is a waste of space. Get somebody that matters.

Only got in the first couple of paragraphs, got bored, & moved on. If I needed somebody to just talk at me, not to me, I'd go get married again!

Joel Stein rocks! Give him a raise!

Joel:
One word - hysterical.

P.S. Why don't Angeleno's have a sense of humor?

Thanks, Joel. After decades of reading the LATIMES, I cancelled my subscription when some idiot fired their only substantive opinion columnist and hired the odious Jonah Goldberg. Judging from the fact that they are apparently also paying another shallow and pathetic shill like you, it appears I won't ever have to rethink my decision.

I LOVE YOU JOEL STEIN!! I just thought it was necessary to say after all the posts about people no longer reading your column. You can talk at me, Bush bash, and be a bleeding heart libral all you want and I'll still love you because I ALWAYS agree with your column. We're like to 2 myspace haters in the same pod...

Keep keepin' it REAL!

It's amusing how few people posting here actually have a sense of humor. If this is a representative sample of the country in general, then it explains a lot.

He's just not a good writer...

And thus another sad reason for the decline of dead-tree publications...

Here's the thing: We live in a society where 75% of the people think they can do a quality job as president, but only 25% of people can find Iraq on a world map.

Joel's an adequate writer, but he's not being all that arrogant. The arrogance comes from the masses of people who think their poorly thought out, reactionary opinions truly matter.

They don't.

Everyone thinks they're a fricken expert in this world, but most people barely understand their truncated personal reality.

Concensus is all good and fine when it is a concensus of passionate, educated, rational people. When it is a concensus dominated by emotional, uneducated, irrational, selfish people, then no good can come of it.

Instead, everything falls to the lowest common denominator (the path of devolution) as opposed to the highest common denominator (the path of evolution).

That is the present state of our society: Society governed by the lowest common denominator. Thus the decline of the arts, the decline of intellectualism, the decline of creativity, the decline of political discourse...

Me? I'm sick of it.

That's my worthless opinion.

Does Joel Stein think I *want* to talk to him?

I got to admit that I don't spend much of my day with my nose in the L.A. Times. I read a few articles on the web, occasionally one of there better investigation pieces, and the Calender section. That's about it.

I never go near the "real" newspaper at the store. I never touch the sports section; I have ESPN for that. I never read the Opinion Section; I find more agreeable commentary elsewhere that hasn't been spewed from the crusty, corporate orifice of the Tribune Editorial Board.

Today something did catch my eye on the L.A. Times Homepage today. Joel Stein's psuedo-blog blared the headline, "Have something to say? I don't care" and further blaring, "Don't bother sending anything to that e-mail address below -- because I don't care."

After reading his little screed I still am at a loss as to why he takes personal umbrage to anyone who emails him with an opinion other than I get the impression that Stein can't take The Heat but happens to Love His Kitchen...

And (you KNEW there was an AND in there somewhere) that boiling Joel Stein down and stripping away his would-be "blogger" credentials he's an old-school, newspaper Elitist who CANNOT understand why you, the Reading Public, just cannot blindly accept whatever Cultural Taste he decides to brew up and spoon feed to you.

Stein obviously grew up and was miseducated in the days of when the news gathering Media was held aloft as the Fourth Wheel of Government and whatever the print media felt was would belch out people would take as secular Gospel. Only the Powerful had voices because only the Powerful had the magic keys that unlocked the Media to them. The Powerful told everyone what to believe, and what to think, and what to watch on one of the four channels of TV.

But all that has changed... Blogs are supplanting newspapers in their ability to cover and uncover Real News. YouTube is providing access to a wealth of news and pure crap. Bit Torrents and ITUNES provide legal and semi-legal methods of circumventing the otherwise carefully scripted way you would normally receive your entertainment. And, yeah, email provides a nearly instant method of expressing one's outrage or personal agreement with someone's opinion.

Those in the old, established sections of the media are confused, befuddled, and a might pissed off by it. What once was the province of only a few now has the possibility of being the province of everyone.

Studio Executives can't understand why THE HULK flops after a hundred million in marketing because a friend of a friend of a friend got a text message saying that it 'SUX'ED BALLS!' Newspaper Editors can't fathom why you'd rather read a penny-sheet blog like this one instead of the measured reporting of some... Snore... Sorry almost put myself to sleep there. Joel Stein can't understand why you feel the need to tell him personally that his opinions are on par with those of a crackhead.

Give Joel Stein a bit of credit. Unlike everyone else in the Mainstream Media he at least has the thin skinned brio to fess up to it, "And maybe on this site, one brave person will write about how I'm right to stand up against this world of false, easy community, where columnists pretend they think their essays are no more valuable than yours, and friendship is a stranger who thanks you for the MySpace add," he wrote.

All that Ivy Over-grown education and all that perceived Power and still Joel Stein -- THE Joel Stein has to contend with the opinion of lowly YOU! Don't you know who He IS!? POOR FOOL!

Don't blame Joel Stein. He was raised ignorant. Blame the Old Media Whores that still cling to the idea that you Listen, They Decide. Or you can simply ignore them. A quick look at newspaper sales reveals that everyone else is.

Mr. Stein,

I'm an arrogant, solipsistic, attention-needy freak who pretends to have an opinion about everything.

This is the first accurate thing you've ever written. And don't worry, you need not respond: I'm talking AT you.

Joel Stein is that rare writer who has the ability to disguise (sometimes too well) impressive commentary in the confines of a humor column. His "Warriors and Wusses" was perhaps the most thought-provoking piece I've yet to read regarding the war in Iraq and it comes not from Maureen Dowd or Jonah Goldberg or Ariana Huffington or Sean Hannity... but a dorky, self-deprecating, Jewish LA Times columnist.

Seriously, if you dislike Stein's column, you're either too out of touch with pop culture and current events to understand the laughs, or too in-touch with your own perceived paradigm that anyone who dares disagree with your point of view is an arrogant, misinformed, faux-journalist.

Joel Stein is money.

Mr. Stein,

If you do not care what readers think (which is perfectly fine by me) why are you a columnist?

If you only wish to pen your prose for your perview, keep a personal journal and keep a lock on it.

I hope you enjoy the precipitous responses to your perverse solicitation for feedback.

You know, we could all talk to each other here and not involve Joelly at all, unless of course he chooses to participate. But then he might be out of a job.

Which is his abstruse point, I think. The power of the Fourth Estate is leaking away through the sieve of many-to-many connectivity that technology has provided. Larry above touched on that point.

For instance, the press daintily tried to preserve Saddam's dignity on the gallows by cutting away when it did. This was immediately followed by that camera-phone video that, while grainy and jerky, still showed the face of fear when he dropped. This raw content allows us to form our own opinion. And if we can form our own opinion we don't need the organized press any longer.

But then again, it is nice to have a cadre that can all write clearly, and are eager to sit through bureaucratic press conferences.

Sonny
PS You think if they blogged back in the 1500's, only forty-odd theses would be considered for rejection?

If the commentary above is reflective of the daily email Mr. Stein receives, his otherwise perplexing column becomes quite a bit more understandable.

Question is, what critical mass of these retorts constitute enough to convince his editors to remove his email address from the bottom of his columns?

That's not a rhetorical question. The answer is that there is no such threshold. As Mr. Stein knows, trying to buck editorial policy (inclusion of the email address on all non-ad writings in the LA Times) is the modern equivalent of charging at windmills.

I'm not sure it was necessary to write a column in order to try and win justification for not opening (let alone reading) emails he receives. Perhaps that is the real policy Mr. Stein is challenging.

If that's the case, his effort to change policy is noteworthy, if not achievable.

McClellan's "the medium is the message" rings even truer in our exponentially accelerating electronic age - which renders Mr. Stein's message meaningless, although his commentary on perceived afronts (or lack of protocols) in the medium deserve greater exploration.

I myself would like to explore that further, but I've got a whole inbox of emails yet to read and respond to . . .

Thanks for letting me see the kind of replies your columns receive. I can't believe you don't enjoy this - I would quit my job if I had this much entertainment pouring in.

Really, its too funny; I especially love the extremists on either side: pro-Stein, anti-Stein. I'll just stand in the middle, cut the rope you're both tugging at, and watch you all fall down ;)

I love the LATimes, because its L.A.

Good job, Mr. Stein!!

Good job, Mr. Stein!!

tl; dr

To Mr. Stein...It's called egalitarianism and I'd be the last person to say my opinion has more weight than yours. It's unfortunate that you do have a platform to expound upon your bitterness but that is the doing of the LA Times...not myself. Such is the modern newspaper business

Still, despite the humiliation of public mockery, this is better than the emails. And only partly because you do the writing back for me.

I couldn't stop myself laughing out loud reading this column.

I've coveted your writing style and gigs since TIME was mandatory reading in eighth-grade civics class. Your voice flows in a manner casual and irreverent, without the caustic degradations popular in the mainstream of late.

You've only gotten better at LAT. While some newspaper monkeys are frantically tap-dancing for bloggular attention as print circulations decline for the umpteenth time, you know enough to toss out a casual, "Go away, kid" -- and wait for the reverse psychology to bring on the reader response. Brilliant. Simple. Stein.

I have only two suggestions, and they are stylistic minutiae. Firstly, instead of "Post," the button at the bottom of the page should read "Eh," or something that is more consistent with your apathy. Secondly, the title of this page might have left the timeframe more open, to permit LAT to capitalize on higher blogger traffic for a longer period of time. Instead of linking it to one column that will age, the page header might read, "The Doctor is _Out_: Joel Stein is NOT Listening." Or, both button and title could simply read: "La-la-la-la-la."

Thank you for making me laugh! Voulez-vous employer une consultante créative? ;)

Katelyn

I was reading the above comments for a while until I realized that... I don't care what these random people think either. Keep writing an op-ed column the way it's supposed to be done.

I really really want to commend Joel Stein for his unceasing efforts in proving that computers are now so user-friendly that bipeds lacking opposable thumbs and frontal lobes can successfully doodle away on them.

The Washington Post "nelogisms" contest came up with the number one invented word of 2006: Ignoranus. The term describes someone who is simultaneously capable of being both an idiot and an asshole.

Joel Stein. Ignoranus of 2006. ]

How this blot on the reputation of writers continues to work at the Times can only be explained by the fact the paper is now run by illiterates from Chicago who think a failed Hollywood smartass must be "really cool."

I agree with JS. If you clowns want to share your opinions, write a column, a book, a play. Who cares about all the mindless spewing that passes for informed discourse on the WWW.

In subtle humour,

Dicky

I found Joel's rant mildly funny. Although, I don't really get off on such grandiose poses. Why don't you check out my blog instead? I don't get paid for it but it's a joy to write. My latest blog is on the handjob revolution. check it out:

http://myhomeisthesea.blogspot.com/

Mr. Stein(or whoever reads this),
This is truly a problem you've spent enough time stewing over to finally explode onto such a large forum? I'd hate to see what you would do if you happened upon a generally chuckle-worthy-at-best columnist who had decided to vomit a useless and insulting tirade for apparently no other reason than to show the people that keep him employed (the readers) that they're wasting their time by reading his column. You'll find that an "opinion" columnist who is not only out of touch with his readership, but actually harbors distaste for them, will soon have no readers who bother with his opinion at all...
If this is truly how you feel, and this isn't just some completely misguided and totally moronic way to get people to click on your link for once, next time (if you get such a chance), just do what the rest of the world does when they get thousands of emails, text messages, junk mail, etc: (drum roll please).... respond when you feel like it and throw the rest away!
Dumbass.

Ah, you're behind the times. Clive Robertson has made a living for years abusing his listeners in Australia. Have a chat to the BBC. I hear they're after a few Grumpy Old Men for a TV show.

This turned out to be one of the rare Tuesdays I couldn't start my day with a Joel Jolt due to travel. I've loved his writing-even when I don't agree with it-since high school when I came across a Q&A in Time. He actually made my day when his reply to an email coincided with my birthday. I appreciated the response because it was so surprising given the electronic culture described in the column. Imagining his maxed out inbox, and concerns over a restraining order, have kept me from emailing again, but I can't resist defending him now. He really does respond! I can sympathize because I'm the same way despite being raised in the Myspace era. Forunately for me, I only routinely get personal emails from about eight people, and two of those are family. Being expected to respond to numerous emails from people you don't know is unrealistic, even if the alternative is being labeled arrogant. This is what makes his efforts until now so admirable. Believe me, that signed Cher poster and personal letter from David Hasslehoff for being in his fan club were either done by an assistant or mail merge. For God's sake, give the man a break.

The truth is, most readers are smarter than most journalists.
And smart readers are just looking for the story, the facts, not the journalists' opinions.
We don't care what your opinions are. We care even less about your opinions than you apparently do about ours.
Journalists are simply a conduit for information.
Democracy and real life are above all about the real opinions of real people in the real general public.

Well the title and 1st line got my attention sufficiently to finish. You scored there.

I learned there was enough consistency to your obnoxious attitude to not bother ever reading your work again -- or Ryan's, your simiarly narcissistic fraternity pal. There are few journalists less deserving of a readers attention than you in your current public manifestation.

Hopefully companies who do want return business will figure out the simple economics of flagrant rudeness and disrespect -- might create a brief gathering for the sheer awe of audacity. Pretty short-lived benefits though as a marketing strategy. Its hard to compete to remain the poorest quality gig in town. Eventually other journalists with substance and passion as well as talent (and who knows, you might have a little bit camoflauged beneath your witless tyrade) will speak up. Those who read your string of letters out of boredom because there is nothing better will move on without even a glance backward. After awhile even audacity seekers figure out that lack of preparation for doing any real reporting is not a good reason for bashing your audience.

Unless you've earned a Ph.D. and M.D. the hard way rather than buying your degrees on the internet you are not more educated and quite possibly not more informed than your readers. You would need to actually do enough reading and research to earn at least 3 doctoral degrees to surpass me. What both of you have demonstrated in not whether you should be able to avoid a response back from your readers. I don't normally care to correspond with journalists, movie stars and authors anyway -- though I strongly doubt you've come close enough to star level to even compare your plight with them.

You and Ryan did demonstrate a sufficient lack of professional behavior so that you should be basically unemployable unless you undergo a major transformation. Good luck.

I totally agree with Mr. Stein. He airs his views, we readers can take it any way we want to. BUT WE SHOULD NOT DEMAND THAT HE REPLIES TO US. And, to me, anyone who gets so upset at other people's views that they have to air their own views and demand rebuttals is simply psycho. Tolerance, my dears, tolerance.

Pritchett

Keep it up Joel. I own a film production company, and we insist on writers like you. People must understand that art is a vision. Most people do not have tandem visions. Those that do are called psychics, and generally do not write columns. You should continue to write with only your opinion in mind, so that you and your opinion can truly be understood whether it is loved or loathed. Anything else is watered down garbage. So put some earplugs in and block out the world. We are ready for more unfettered diatribe, sound or outlandish.

For those who "don't get" Joel's personna, he's a wannabe sitcom writer, the Borat of Hollywoodstan, reduced by necessity to writing a column about nothing for a newspaper that ceased to exist long ago. He's the whale that flings itself onto the Malibu sand, despertaly hoping to draw Geffen's attention long enough to toss him his latest script. Alas, he misses again, but just barely. Try again, Joel, try again!

Thanks for the add!

Stein is one of those few dudes who posseses the testicular fortitude and wit to say whatever he wants in a clever and self-depreciating style, entertaining and provoking thoughts the way good columnists are supposed to.

Regardless of what anyone says this guy is in the position he is in for a good reason and continues to prove that week to week. Anyone who doesn't agree should seriously complain to the publisher or at least write something original enough for everyone to take notice, like this guy.

Keep on stepping it up with this stuff... and since I said all this good stuff about you maybe you can get me a job or something, screw a pen pal. My resume is top notch.

Who cares what Joel Stein thinks, writes or reads? I read a few "Stein Whines"a while back and thought: this guy is not funny, not smart, not interesting, and not helpful. So I quit reading him. Being obnoxious is what people who don't understand irony do to try to seem cool. Stein is a creepy combination of T.J. Simmers and Erma Bombeck. I am not sure why the L.A. Times publishes him. Then again this is the paper that fired Robert Scheer and hired another intellectual infant, Jonah Goldberg in his place. I cancelled my subscription then.
I read on line for free. There is plenty of financial support for stupidity in this country already.

If you do not care about your readers opinions then why write at all? Is this not what you are there to do? Stimulate opinions amongst the readers? You want to talk at people go into any town square grab a box and start talking. Funny thing about that venue however you will most likely be ignored and dismissed as a person of litle sense. This is a pre-internet way of communicating and you should try it if you want a taste of the old life. You wont have any one to respond to because no one will respond to you.
It seems to me that you do care at some level. But what a cheap waste of your talent to have a tantrum about your unwillingness to either answer e-mails or just delete them disguised as an article.
Not that you care please do not email me back because im posting this for you to hopefully see and think about

I do NOT expect a return email. But wouldn't that be nice? I've never written to a columnist before - and I'm pretty old. Old enough to be a newspaper fan but not old enough to push my way to the front of the foldaway table for complaints at the senior center. But actually, JUST like you, I only want you to READ my opinion/email...you don't have to reply. Thanks for the laughs this morning. Tell your editors there are plenty of folks who read the paper version of the newspaper AND we are computer interactive too. BTW - we are not confused. Just evolving. Some of us still love to read books too. So tell them also, don't even THINK about ditching the LA Times Book Festival like they did with the Investor's Conference.

I heartily agree with Mr. Stein. I am tired of people thinking everything they think or say has some import. One only has to read this string to realize how much we have gone wrong.

Just because you can get your name or opinion on the web doesn't mean you should. Everybody shut-up.

Joel Stein,
I have been reading the LA TImes on a daily basis for about two and half years now and have found it to be much more interesting and educating than the news on television which is hardpressed to squeeze important stories onto short segments of time. In that time I have only sent a handful of emails to writers of the times but have quit doing so since I came to realization that reading emails must be a great waste of time that could be better spent doing research for other stories. I have quit watching news on television and instead have sought in the Times a source of stories to educate me and perhaps shape my opinion if I find compelling aruments in these stories. I think it wrong for people to expect writers of the LA TImes to need input as to what opinion they should have or what other argument they should consider. The LA TImes would not have the same quality without the diverse and sometimes strong opinions expressed in the pages of this great newspaper. Just as no one expects reporters on television to broadcast their email address, no one should expect any writer for the times to print their email address or to go so far as to answering them.

I applaud you and give you a standing ovation for expressing your discontent with this practice.

Thanks for speaking AT me.

Hey, I thought it was funny. Can't you people take a joke?

Mmm... methinks Joel doth protest too much. So now instead of spending his time reading emails, he'll spend even more time reading this blog - ironic, ain't it?

BTW, I recently wrote to Patt Morrison with some advice on her podcasts, and she was kind enought to write back with a friendly email. Ah, well - reminds me of an old saying - "I cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no class". Are you reading this Joel?

"Have something to say? I don't care"

What are you, like, a mind reader? I would have been thinking the same thing about you...but I don't know who you are. But you must be some big macher for gawker to tweak your stones.

Be careful what you wish for, genius.

you remind me of paris hilton.

...I mean, like, seriously dude! Boo-freakin'-hoo. Go work in a chicken mill for a month, you big baby. Go hang drywall. Or wait tables.

Too many people writing to you? Too many inane comments? Hey, stupid, that's the way it works. You think Cormac McCarthy is going to be the first guy in your inbox? Mamet?

Do everyone a favor and quit...make room for someone with passion for the job.

So a columnist doesn't want to communicate with us, he just wants to talk at us.

Sorry, but I'm not interested either way.

You know who talks at us, not to us? Someone like Pat Robertson or George W. Bush, people who don't care about the wrong paths they lead people down just as long as they get to say or do any little thing that crosses their mind and damn the consequences. This columnist is no better than they are but he's easier to ignore, for all the fatuousness and hubris he spews is something that doesn't affect anyone who can tune him out by just ignoring him, not clicking the link, not buying the paper that employs someone with such arrogance.

It's pathetic, really. The difference between becoming like Jimmy Breslin and writing for the Times or working for Fox News is that Breslin, the famous NY journalist who used to pen similar columns in the NY papers, is interested in people, talking to and not at them. This columnist and Fox News are cut from the same cloth, where a chance to get a sense of what people think is replaced by the arrogance of telling you what to think, talking at you and not to you.

We get enough arrogance from Bush, Robertson, Fox News and their ilk. I don't need it from the L.A. Times.

JOEL STEIN BLOCKED A CHUCK NORRIS ROUNDHOUSE KICK WITH HIS ENORMOUS BRAIN.

I am with Joel. I also like too to have my say and only expose my eyes and ears to those who I feel have something to say that I am interested in hearing or seeing. I am not interested in listening to the bitter and twisted rants of the converted religious and political that can't do anything more than mouth mantras without substance.

Nearly every opinion I get through news feeds, etc - is mindless and the authors haven't taken the miniscule time required to test their base facts; and that unfortunately it is usually painfully obvious. I watch the masses and our illustrious leaders accept the mantras, who at least pretend to believe them, and base their views and opinions and our lives on mindless drivel put forward by spin-doctors and over educated fools.

My favourite examples of stupidity:

• guns don't kill (I guess it could be the bullets),
• a war on drugs will reduce the drug problem (gee that really seems to working),
• behaving like Paris Hilton and Britanny Spears will make people like you and attract the right type of guy (not even worth the comment),
• buying the right stuff will make you happy (every ad on TV tells me so),
• paying less taxes and having people living on the streets without health care and work because they deserve too makes the world safer,
• God is on our side (I think Gods is laughing hysterically),
• God likes nuclear weapons, wars, and unforgiving bureaucracies that encourages people to judge others worthiness ( I guess that is obvious to everyone)
• the death penalty reduces crime etc. etc; ad nauseum.

Ah - If only I wasn't bitter and twisted as well, then I might have something useful to say. Now there's a New Years resolution - "I will become tolerant, gracious and open too everyone’. SORRY - NO CAN DO - there are a lot of people out there who I just could never abide to waste my life acknowledging. I guess I will just trundle on with my current policy; always be a sceptic and smile sweetly at my children when they tell me “their opinions”, and ignore all the email except the few I have decided are worth my time reading.

I, too, always wonder why newspapers make their columnists include their e-mail addresses. It seems like misfits and shut-ins would send e-mails all day to reporters with comments and questions. Now it dons on me -- it's because the newspaper industry is in a major decline and the lure of readers engaging in communication with newspaper writers, like they do with blog writers, may actually maintain readers. Regardless, thanks for the intriguing column, Joel Stein.

If I want to hear the opinion of semi literate, I can turn on CNN or the nightly news. Why would I waste my time reading the comments of someone like Joel Stein. The guy wouldn't be qualified to write for People, let alone what USED TO BE a great paper like the LA Times.

finally, an honest self appraisal from a jewish boy in print... now, if only the neocons in Washington could be so honest...

this page is a much better read than Joel Stein's column. should consider replacing his column with this page. but i must admit JS does have his good days(columns).

DC

Joel Stein kicks ass.

Face it, columnists are supposed to say things that inflame people. Maybe they didn't do this so much before Al Gore invented the internet but now editors can track their popularity in real time. Advertisers don't care if you clicked to Joel Stein's column because a friend emailed it to you to show you how horrible it is. They just care that you clicked. Joel Stein is about the distance from Earth to Pluto x the diameter of Jupiter funnier than Dave Barry too. And check out his stuff that got spiked on his website sometime, like the interview with Al Neuharth where he asks Al "What's the name of your sled?" He hasn't reached the top of the heap yet--that's where you'll find Matt Taibbi's column on the death of the Pope--but Stein is Taibbi's only competition.

Dan Neil's great too. If I had a few billion lying around, I'd buy the LATimes and give both of these guys ergonomic chairs.

G'day from Aussie, a word if this galah Joel Spanker was down here writing his back of the packet corn flakes soap opera journalism he would probably end up his arse kicked back to Seppo land. America, the land of the home and the brave and this idiot.

What is intriguing is that Mr Stein's columns are extremely marginal --mostly, like this one, based on contrarian, attention getting gimmicks, rather than thought or knowledge.

I can't say I have the slightest interest in telling Mr. Stein anything. I do have some advice for the Times --get rid of him, and spend your money on someone with more than contrarianism to offer.

How pathetic.

We've finally reached a point where the journalistic community, which is supposed to exist as a public good, analyzing our society and detailing it to the people, has decided that it is acceptable to regard those same people as worthless and irrelevant.

All while the same community decries the lack of civil discourse between our politicians and our general society.

If this is the state of affairs, maybe it is time for this new Rome to fall.

So, u got lots of hits and that's what ur desperate pointless ego required...now go back to bed knowing u r still our favourite clown...

I second the comment from the reader dubbed "Andy Rooney." Give Andy his grumpy old man act back. Andy is funny; you just sound like a prick.

Hey Joel,

Eat shit and die.

Mike Torpey

PS

Have you ever met Oprah?

No, JS, you are not arrogant. You are just an asshole.

That's "populace," Fishman.

Look it up.

If I wanted my intelligence to be treated contemptuously, I'd read David Brooks or Jeff Jacoby. If I wanted to be told I had none at all, I'd read George Will or the Washington Times. Your Garbo-like, "I want to be left alone to tell YOU what I think" may be honest; it is also silly. It has, at last, moved the Tribune-obsessed LA Times to set up an easy to use response column, which puts them miles ahead of the Selective Times in NYC. They should keep it, for more interesting topics.

Joel Stein doesn't want to communicate with us great. As a journalism school drop-out I appreciate this opportunity to voice my opinions.
Most people base their opinions on little or no information and therefore, they don't know what they are talking about. Unless, they are voicing their opinion about the most recent celebrity mishap.
When it comes to more important matters such as war, taxes, schools, ect, ect most Americans have the attention span of a gnat. Unless they are directly affected by one or more of these important matters.
So my message to my fellow Americans is don't open your pie-hole until you have researched the topic you want to talk about, that way when you do have an opinion it will be an informed opinion and maybe just maybe someone will listen to you.

Tom Cook

Bring back Robert Scheer. In comparison with Stein he had the benefit of maturity.

I stopped reading JS columns a LONG time ago. He comes off sounding like he is 12 years old. Is he ? I don't understand why the Times even gives him any space. If he gets paid for his dreck where do I apply ?

Neither do I care about your opinion.

I stopped reading your opinionated, ideologue column a while back and only read this one because the title intrigued me although it does sound exactly like the usual you.

I think the LA Times and the newspaper industry in general would be better off without you but that is probably to much to hope for. Political correctness keeps your ilk around.

Joel Stein is just one of the many dumbed down features of the "new" LA TIMES (Lopez is another) that has me hoping that all the Midwest people who have taken over this paper will go home. I'm afraid that their, what should we call it, "brawling Chicago" style of rant over substance stands a chance of being confused for news in this one paper town.

I've read Joel's columns since he started writing for Time in the 90s. Very glad to see he hasn't changed.

To the poster who thinks that journalists are smarter than the populous:

I have read many things in print that were wrong. I am not talking political matters, but information based on fact.

I also went to school with some future journalists and they scored higher than me on ego but not necessarily intelligence.

Yes, some journalists are good and entertaining writers...but even the best of them get facts wrong and are victims of their own bias.

Joel Stein's column was brilliant. I agree completely. I don't want to be his friend, but if he's got something to say worth hearing, I'll listen/read.

How positively...uninspiring. Joel works for the media. He wants the world to turn back the clock to the 80's when his ilk hid behind the curtain and weren't subject to the slings and arrows of the public-unless of course the public wrote letters to his bosses, which were ignored...wait, this is somehow different?

Great, another arrogant reporter, who WRITES IN A BLOG, is telling the world "I don't care". He might as well say "OOooohhh, look at me!!!!"

Joel, you are such a curmudgeon! I find that extremely sexy, by the way. And no, I'm not named Simone and I don't live in France. But then again, you're a curmudgeon, not George Clooney.

If you don't think Joel Stein is hilarious, you're probably taking yourself too seriously.

The man speaks the truth.

As someone who occasionally writes op-eds and other articles (most recently for this paper, last Nov.), I like it when readers e-mail me. It means people are reading what I wrote. Some people write smart things, others not so smart things. I generally respond. (Then again, maybe I don't get as many e-mails as Joel Stein.)

Joel (if I may be informal) is, of course, entitled to regard reader e-mail as a waste of time or worse. In my own humble experience, though, reader e-mail can be helpful. Readers have tipped me off to an interesting article or a paper I didn't know of. Yes, sometimes readers are ill-informed or obnoxious. More often, they're complimentary (and,therefore, by definition, well informed).

Anyway, I wouldn't get too worked up over Joel's column.

I thought Fawn Liebowitz died in a kiln explosion.

All the people on this comment thread that are personally offended by Stein's facetious sarcasm need to grow a pair or shut up. Then again, Stein might have foreseen this reaction and knew he'd be better off not receiving email from the oversensitive masses that cannot consider, much less adapt to, an etiquette evolved for the "hyper-interactive" world.

You know what, I completely understand how you feel about not wanting all that e-mail, if there is one thing I hate, it's e-mail from people I don't have time to care about. Why not be arrogant, everyone in this world tends to be at least a little arrogant. How many people can honestly say that when it comes to them or someone else, they can choose someone else?? I was just letting you know that whoever does your proofreading missed a couple of transpositions, and mis-used words. Happy New Year, and you go boy!

Not only should you read my comment but you should see my family vacation photos.

People who take Stein's sarcasm seriously are obviously unfamiliar with his work.

That wasn't how it finished, however. He turned, his eyes darting slowly from where they were across the panning field of his changing horizon, and walked away. No smirk. No smile. Just walking.

'Walking -- now isn't that something I've left behind throughout all of this...' he thought, his mind already having forgotten about what he had just seen and done. Trees, green and red, began moving in the opposite direction he was facing. His movement led him past some of them and before others. Birds, black and brown, dot the sky screaming for each other and against the rising and falling of the surface below.

Just because the media choosen for display of information has changed, I don't believe the fundamentals of your job (any journalist) have. About time someone (JS) said it. Last time I checked, chat rooms were still around and that was NOT the format for journalists to present their material.

I was starting to think Joel's column is turning lame, but look at the response: over a hundred comments in two days. He should be getting a raise for stirring such controversy & confusion...

Joel, you are absolutely right! Thank God someone finally had the brains and the guts to stand up and tell it like it should be. I WANT your opinion. I DON'T want to give you mine - and I don't want to have to read everyone else's. Let them get their own column! I want YOUR insight, YOUR wit and YOUR opinion - that's why I'm reading YOUR column. If I want someone else's opinion, I will read THEIR column. I don't usually contribute feedback like this and I certainly won't email you (I know you won't read it anyway), but maybe someone will read this and tell you and your bosses that people like a columnist that speaks his mind, without fear or favour. So, go for it Joel. Take the hard line. I'll keep reading.

At least Ryan Fishman the journalist is honest about being a journalist who reports his story from his opinion. Unlike these boneheads who claim to be unbiased. We all have opinions, why lie? As far as looking down at the undereducated, why not just list which races to look down at? Demographics show who is who. There are idiots every-undereducated, overeducated, and just plain edumacated. My Masters doesn't make me much smarter than my co-workers who have their Bachelors.
By the way, Stein is right, don't respond to this because I don't care. Especially from overeducated higher than thou idiots.

I know that you don't was to receive e-mails (re; "Have something to say? I don't care."). But, having enjoyed your columns since I discovered them last year, I think that you, Sir, are a genius, a word that I don't toss around lightly (these days, every fringe-dweller is declared a "genius" before a well-deserved slide into oblivion), your writings the equivalent of anything by Noam Chomsky or . . . or. . . my Uncle Fred.

First of all, let me prevent one major misunderstanding by satying at the outset: I am not now, nor have I ever been a member of the Stein Admiration Society.

That said, I actually enjoyed his column explaining why he will not reply to e-mails. But unlike some who responded, I took his description "talk _at_ you" as somewhat tongue-in-cheek. The column has more logical cohesion when read that way, whether that is what he really meant or not;)

So why did I enjoy it? Because the attitude he criticizes, both implicitly and explicitly, really deserves the criticism. It is NOT genuine dialogue to sound off with your own screed as so many people do. On the contrary: doing such things is FAR more deadly to genuine dialog than refusing to answer, on the grounds that he wants to "talk _at_ you".

Finally, just because he is writing a column, refusing to answer emails, does not even mean he is eschewing dialog. On the contrary: there _is_ such a thing as public dialog, which goes on rather slowly in the mass media, which accept feedback only in more indirect ways. _Good_ journalists, columnists and social commentators have been engaging in this dialog for centuries now. Whether or not Joel is one of these is not a question I am going to tackle right now;) I just want to remind people that is _is_ possible, and _highly_ desirable.

Wait, are there really so few of us who catch sarcasm? Am I really so above average by perceiving that the entire column was tongue-in-cheek at the same time as it was completely serious? God, I must be smarter than I thought.

Spot on Joel. We live in a warped society that believes we ALL are worthy of interest. All our opinions are noteworthy. And all our communications should be responded to, or else we have been insulted in the most horrible fashion: we have been deemed insignificant.

Clue to you all: your (and my) opinions are generally insignificant. If you want an interactive venue, find a blog comments page and chat away. But Joel, although I find you a self-absorbed know-it-all, you are a smart ass. And better a smart one than a dumb one. I'll continue to read and be annoyed by you. I'll save my comments for the fish bowl drop at my local lunch counter. At least I might win free lunch for my office that way.

Hi Joel and participants,

I've probably joined this conversation a bit too late but in case anyone is still around...

I think that Joel's role is to provide the public with enough information to start a public conversation about things that matter to us. The news/opinion column is the journo's piece/bit - the rest of the conversation is up to the public. So, what are we discussing here today - the role of the journalist? Or is it the relevance of (news/opinion) blogs to the public conversation? It sometimes sounds as though we are more concerned about whether or not we can get the journo's attention/friendship? I think we should embrace the news blog. We now have a space to share opinions with people that we couldn't ordinarily speak to (without the blog). I'm happy that the journo (Joel) doesn't want to control the conversation (it's enough that he gets to set the agenda with his column). It sounds to me like he wants the conversation to run its own course - what could possibly be wrong with that? Give the guy a break and let’s use this/these spaces to talk amongst ourselves - he'll join the gaggle when he wants to (as we all do).

By the way... you might be interested to know that keyboards are currently tapping this same song across the other side of the world. I'd never have known anything about any of your opinions if Joel hadn't written such an 'interesting' piece ;)

talk is valuable

I can't believe how people are really taking your column personally and vowing never to read it again!

Joel, your column cracked me up. It was well-written, and one can't help but admire your forthrightness and honesty.

That's fine with me if you want to talk at me. Columnists have done that for years, and no one ever complained. Thanks for stirring up our wheels of thought. Keep up the good work!

I can't believe how people are really taking your column personally and vowing never to read it again!

Joel, your column cracked me up. It was well-written, and one can't help but admire your forthrightness and honesty.

That's fine with me if you want to talk at me. Columnists have done that for years, and no one ever complained. Thanks for stirring up our wheels of thought. Keep up the good work!

Your pretend hubris is mediocre.

I don't even know who Joel Stein is. Why would I want to say anything to him?

And I won't be checking this space obsessively for the next two days to see if Joel Stein has replied to this comment.

Traditionally journalists have always written their stuff and have never had to carry on a dialogue with its readers. They went on to other jobs. And who says this dialogue is necessarily a good thing? Haven't we seen enough journos-turned-idealogue, complete with TV show, newspaper column, book deal and a new, younger wife?

If we can save Joel or any other LA Times journo from joining the ranks of the overfed and bloated, we really should. Think of it as our humanitarian duty to save him from a life of senseless diets, botox and the requisite stay at Betty Ford.

Don't write Joel Stein. Get your news sources from lots of places and don't get hung up on what any one person says or thinks.

Come to think of it, I"m going to stop reading Matt Welch.
I really don't think he needs a new younger playmate, botox, a macrobiotic diet, or a trainer named Raul who doubles as a body guard.
Instead, I'll order a hot dog cart to be stationed near his desk. I'll make it so he's covering everything from the dog catcher totals to the Opinion LA blog in relative obscurity. He can get fat, his current amour can tickle him and we'll all be spared another aging journo with a cable show.

Save Matt Welch. Don't read his blog.

I've edited work from columnists who claim the number of emails they have received in support reflects what the public believes. Boy do they get a shock at election time. Good on you, Joel. Frame your ideas; file your copy on time; enjoy the non-professional part of your life.

Paul Wiggins
Homebush, NSW, Australia

It wasn't until I read your stupid column that I realized it is possible to email you. Not that I ever email anyone, because I am too stupid to know there's an email address at the bottom. Not that you care.

So "Mr Smarty Pants" how is it you get off using big words like "solipsistic". I'm still trying to pronounce it, let alone figure what the Heck it means. Unless it has something to do with using LipStick. In which case, I shouldn't be reading your column anyway.. By the way, do you seek professional help on a regular basis? If you don't, you might consider trying it...

Well now that I got all that angst (great word and only one syllable - though I'm sure what it means) off my chest I can finish this and get on with my life.

Amen, Joel Stein! Everything need not be "interactive" and consumer-driven. Journalists are educated professionals who worked and/or studied to become better at filtering and presenting information than people who don't have any sort of journalistic training.

Journalists spend time thoughtfully breaking down complex events and ideas and plans and reports in order that readers and viewers can digest the information with much less time and effort. Knowledgeable citizens and the free exchange of information are important parts of democracy, and that should interest every American.

This is a humor column? Shouldn't it be like, oh, I don't know - funny?

Joel,

The bad news - I have a problem similar to yours.
The good news – I have found a solution.

My so called friends are constantly sending me emails containing their unsolicited opinions. What makes this a problem is that all my friends are idiots.

Here’s my solution - don’t read their email, just “reply” with your own opinion on the subject. Basically what they’ve done is provide you a perfect opportunity to talk AT them.

Stick with me on this one Joel.

Since Joel Stein does not care about other's opinions of him, he won't read this nice little smackdown:
http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2007/01/why_oh_why_cant.html

in which Stein is pretty much revealed as a pop intellectual poseur with zero knowledge of real history. Enjoy.

Gee, what now to make of the e-mail I recieved a couple of months ago from Joel, saying that he read and appreciated the e-mail rant I sent him? It wasn't even a (completely) standard reply either as he referred to a funny point in the rant that had made him laugh.

I can only conclude that he cares, he really does care!

Joel, Joel... You need a quick trip back to NJ to get that LA nonsense OUT of your head. Opinions of others do matter, you cannot be a columnist without the feedback and feelings of those around you. You've thown down the gauntlet and I would hope that your in-box is filled with hedge fund suggestions and Viagra offers.

You should be spanked for this column or at least forced to write a line down receipts at the Edison, NJ Costco on a Saturday afternoon.

Bo

I so agree with Mr. Stein. This just ran in the Las Vegas paper today 1-5-07. I feel the same about cell phones and email. Why must I answer? I am not a Doctor and I am not on call. People all feel like they should be able to reach you whenever they feel like it. If he wants another opinion he will ask for it. When the book you are reading has an ending you don't like do you email the author??

Joel Stein is hilarious
What is the big deal?
relax, guys, relax

Joel:

U rock.