The irony here is that I wasn’t going to post about the Sanders rejection letter ((For those of you who haven’t been following this, the content of the letter contains offensive, bigoted language. )) at all because everything that I would have said had already been covered, but a conversation at lunch today has changed my mind.
Now, I’ll start by saying that I agree that rejection letters should not be posted — even though it is a common practice — because the author of the letter does, in fact, own the copyright. It’s like saying that speeding is legal just because everyone does it. I say this to get it out of the way, because however the Sanders letter got posted, the genie is out of the bottle. There’s no magic spell to put it back.
I was never intended to see the letter, but having seen it I can’t pretend that it’s not appalling. The use of ethnic or religious slurs is offensive and letting people get away with it only perpetuates the behavior. To let it slide, to ignore it, implicitly endorses the bigotry.
Let me give an example that is unrelated to publishing. During the course of a lovely conversation with an older woman, it came up that we were both from the North Carolina. We were talking about the difference of pace between NYC and NC and then she said, “I can tell you, as a fellow Southerner, that I sometimes find the…diversity ((The word “diversity” is sometimes, though not always, used as a code phrase to mean, “people with brown skin.”)) here to be overwhelming.”
Clearly, she thought she was in the company of someone just like her. Had I said nothing, she would have continued to believe that everyone from the South agreed about “diversity.” ((My actual response to her was something along the lines of “Oh, I know what you mean. I went to a magnet school in the Research Triangle and was surrounded by kids from all over the world who were all smarter than me. When I get up here it feels so much more like home but everything moves so much faster.” She back-pedaled and talked about all the things that she liked about the diverse nature of NYC because I gave her an easy way to save face. But I’ll guarantee that she will be more cautious about assuming that fellow Southerners think the same as she does.))
This was what I had trouble explaining at lunch: To my eye, focusing on the legal wrong of posting the letter creates an implicit acceptance of the societal wrong of the bigoted language within the letter. The content of the letter is perfectly legal but I think it is the more societally damaging of the two.
You know, Mary, I’m frequently in need of a Tact Coach. I nominate YOU 🙂 What a marvelous way to put someone in her place.
Your story reminds me of a story of genteel bigotry that my brother told. It’s called, “The Tale of Miss Vickie”
A year ago, my brother, who is a professor, took a bunch of his students down to New Orleans to help rebuild a Katrina-affected school. Before the backbreaking labor began, the group was treated to a tour of New Orleans, provided by a grand dame Southern Belle who called herself “Miss Vickie.” She pointed out Tulane University on the tour and told the group, “It’s a very expensive university.” And she whispervoiced, “They’re alot of Jews that go there.” The crowd was shocked into silence, which Miss Vickie was oblivious to the shift in mood, and prattled on.