From: The Turtle
To: *******
Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2003 12:10 PM
Subject: Re: We liked your email until . . .

Uhh.. yeah. Read carefully, and we think it's fairly clear who's doing the name calling. Note that we discuss only your arguments, and do not attack you as a person in any way. Because that would be weird, right? We don't even know you.

We understand your need to defend your position to the end, but frankly it's become silly. We contribute plenty to society. Your statements about what we do with our lives are completely uninformed. Your view that accepting some money here and there from friends and family while we're on a road trip nullifies any good we have done in the past is ridiculous.

How you come to the conclusion that our attitude is that "the world is here to provide for us" is mind-boggling. Is it really your contention that "regardless of what we have done in the past, we are still selfish beggars"? Selfishness or righteousness is, by this logic, judged on a moment to moment basis. Acting in self-interest at any one time wipes out any selflessness in the past? How absurd.

We are not sitting on a street corner, demanding that "the world" support us. We are working, quite hard, though not in the traditional sense. We in no way expect nor demand any help. We provide a simple means for people to contribute if they wish. Check http://themorningnews.org or http://thismodernworld.com or http://atrios.blogspot.com/ or http://oddtodd.com for other examples, among thousands. You may believe these people's content to be more worthy of money, but that's just your opinion. These people work very hard at what they do, and if people feel entertained, edified, or uplifted by their work, they can contribute a few bucks. We trust you hold the same contempt for these people as you do for us.

Anyway, your outlandish judgements and incredible generalizations have been quite entertaining. If we could, we'd like to give you a dollar.

Thanks.
Anthony & Liz