The White Peril 白禍

or "Deliciously sinful," if you prefer.

Via Eric, the latest Blogthings quiz: What kind of sandwich are you?

You Are a Ham Sandwich

You are quiet, understated, and a great comfort to all of your friends. Over time, you have proven yourself as loyal and steadfast. And you are by no means boring. You do well in any situation - from fancy to laid back. Your best friend: The Turkey Sandwich Your mortal enemy: The Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Nice that Eric and I have compatible sandwich identities. Funny that I was designated ham, of all things, since I was brought up in a Sabbatarian Christian sect that didn't eat meats deemed unclean in the Old Testament. In fact, I still don't, largely out of habit but also because they give me a tummyache. (My mother memorably said a few years ago, "Out of all the rules your father and I taught you from the Bible, the prohibition against pork and shellfish is the only one you decided to keep?!")

My laptop is at the Toshiba repair center getting its poor dead hard drive replaced, so posting will probably continue to be pretty light until the middle or so of next week. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Unlike some of my more popular blog friends, I don't get more mail than I can handle, and the overwhelming majority of messages I get are thoughtful and mannerly, even if their writers disagree with me.

But then, presumably in an effort to provide a stimulating foil of some kind, there are the hate mailers. Just had my first strafing from one of these characters in a while, and in a few days we have the A-bomb anniversaries, on which I plan to post much the same thing as I always do. Therefore, just so we're all clear, please bear the following in mind before you hit the contact button there to the left:

I am unfazed by any and all messages that consist of nothing more than…

1. "You're stupid."
   
2. "You're self-loathing."
   
3. "You're an asshole."
   
4. "You suck."
   
5. "I bet your mother engages in exceedingly untoward behavior."
   
6. "I BET YOUR MOTHER ENGAGES IN EXCEEDINGLY UNTOWARD BEHAVIOR, YOU STUPID, SELF-LOATHING ASSHOLE! YOU SUCK!"

I've euphemized the last two, failed to make any spelling errors, and been sparing with the exclamation points, but I'm assuming you can imagine the real versions.

Half the time, these people don't even tell me which post got them worked into a lather. Is it too much to ask that those who think they can wreck my sense of self-worth with a one-line e-mail at least let me know what the problem is? "Self-loathing" generally limits it to something about gay issues; but otherwise, I usually can't determine whether my correspondent considers me too leftist, too rightist, too pro-Japan, too anti-Japan, too atheist, too soft on religion, too American, or too brunet. I like a rough-and-tumble argument as much as the next guy, but spasmodic little outbursts like these only convince me that the writers are badly in need of a hobby. My faith in the critical thinking skills of the general population is badly eroded as it is. Please don't make it worse.

See also posts on this subject by Connie and Rondi. Vitriol-spewers all seem to lean toward the same locutions. (And when, BTW, will people learn that it is no longer either clever or incisive to respond to a straight-talking woman by calling her a bitch?)