Either Relevant or True » Dear Playboy…

Dear Playboy…

I’m sure you all remember the Playboy interview back in September. Shortly after the release of the magazine (and after a couple of discussions of it here on ERT) I was contacted by Playboy editor Chip Rowe via the site’s contact form.

He said that they were getting overwhelmingly negative response on the interview* - mostly for the Fox Noise remarks, though some were just general anti-KO sentiment - and that he’d like to balance that with something positive from someone with my “expertise.” (No, really, that’s the word he used. I quickly denied being an expert on a man I’d never met.) After exchanging several emails, I wrote up a couple of hundred words for him to use on the “Letters to Playboy” page. The letter appears in the January issue, along with this blog’s address.

A page scan of my inconveniently separated letter and the text thereof after the jump!

*I’ve made a game of counting the factual and logical errors in the other letters!

Dear Playboy…

Click this to see it writ large!

The hitch was that they insist on publishing a full name, city and state for all letters. For personal reasons, I prefer not to use my real name online, and even though this wasn’t online, it did identify me as the person who runs this site. With Mr. Rowe’s permission, I gave him a pseudonym - Becky Liebowitz (after Jon Stewart) of Chicago. If you happen to be a genuine Becky Leibowitz residing in the city by the lake, my apologies.

Wow! Becky. Well done.

So glad that they did not make you use your real name, as my hair stood on end when I thought that you had.(And is the Bill-O secret police squad on its way, even as I type this, to the home of an innocent and unprepared real Becky Leibowitz?)

Reading all of those nasty letters I can see that they wanted at least one that was not negative, leading me to the perhaps unjustified belief that nutty conservatives buy Playboy more than wild eyed liberals because they aren’t getting any and have to fantasize.

How kind of you not to take Keith to task for his irrational fears that his female fan base is made up of reincarnations of Leona Helmsley who want to do evil things to him with his ties.

I love the editorial staff’s response to one of the comments: “Thank you for recycling.”

All the negative feedback being in a magazine like Playboy is comforting somehow. It is like my world just lived up to my exact expectations of it.

Using Jerry Coleman as a counterpoint is ridiculous. Keith never said he wouldn’t serve in WWII. BTW, I heard Coleman interviewed not along ago about WWII, military service, and the effect it had on baseball (and his career) at the time. It was a great interview.

Excellent job, Becky. Except, unlike Rafismom, I wish you HAD taken Keith to task for his irrational fears that his online fan base might be–horrors!–UGLY! I found that particular remark far more thoughtless, arrogant and potentially damaging to him than the one comparing Fox News to Al Qaeda–but it was, of course, the Fox News one that set the mouth-breathers to hyperventilating.

Sounds like the Olbermann Watch forces really mobilized a la Focus on the Family for this one. “Man the battle stations…ATTACK!” “Rattle around the far-right echo chamber” is right on the money.

Oh, and I suspect KO not only knows about Jerry Coleman’s military record, but could tell you his dates of service, and possibly even his rank and serial number. I mean, this is a baseball player we’re talking about. Not to mention a Yankee. Assuming there are things about any “Yankee great” that KO might not already know is like betting a Canadian that you can name more Canadian provinces off the top of your head than he can name states. It’s a bet you’re highly likely to lose.

Great letter Becky.

I’m glad Playboy tried to find a positive response to balance all the negative ones. It would’ve been easy to just print the letters/e-mail they already had.

Obviously, not everyone hates KO, or no one would watch his show (other than the OW audience, and I wonder how many of them watch everyday). And I’m guessing more people are likely to write in to a publication if they’re angry about something than if they want to say something positive.

Thank you all.

Gilbert - I wondered about the soliciting of my response, but when I asked Mr. Rowe about mentioning the request here on ERT he told me “You are welcome to mention that you were asked to respond, sure. I enjoyed reading the blog and was interested in your take on the Interview. ” I think you’re right too, about someone with a complaint being more likely to write in. I enjoyed the interview, but it didn’t really occur to me to write in and say so.

Rafismom and Orin - If the two of you recall, I didn’t agree with your interpretation of those particular comments (still don’t) so of course it never occurred to me to add that. Besides, I was there to counterpoint the haters, not add another voice of dissent (”See? Even his biggest fans think he’s ghastly!”)

As for the Far Right Wing Echo Chamber… when I said I could read hundreds of KO items on Google Reader each day I wasn’t kidding. It always surprises me how often I see the exact same anti-KO words on half a dozen different websites or more. It’s like the Borg Collective, but without the scary flying cubes.

Great job, Becky!
Thanks for speaking up for all of us!
I, too, would have been glad to send a letter had I known.

Yes, isn’t it interesting on how those anti-KO letters sound the same — same wording, same comments…

Just be prepared for the crash of negative comments sent to this blog!!

And I thought republicans only read Gay porn magazines.

Ah, I see that my communications skills are once again less than average as both Becky and Orin have misunderstood my comments, and in very different ways, making it clear that I screwed up.

I had thought of trying to clear it up, but one of my newer rules is just let it go, and so, I will try to do better in the future.

Oh, Lord, Ralph.

Wonderful observation.

The most telling comment came from Julian Mosely who pointed out that O’Reilly pulls in 3X the viewers as Olbermann. What Mosely didn’t point out–or probably didn’t know–is that the majority of those people are over 65. Perhaps that is also the demographic that is now reading the aging Playboy magazine and why their circulation is half of what it was in the 1970s. The same people are reading it, but 50% of them have died.

Great reminder of why I never read the Playboy magazine, however, I rarely miss an airing of Countdown. I wondered why Olbermann would give an interview to Playboy anyway. I guess he’s into charitable causes.

Another thing Julian Mosely probably doesn’t know is that MSNBC has recently been taken off the basic cable lineup of certain companies, thus making KO’s show inaccessible to many of us who can’t or don’t want to pay extra for the upgrade. I’m in a market of 4 million viewers, with can put a big dent in anybody’s ratings!

I’m a female Olbermann fan– and over 65. But I usually tune out after the serious stories. Life is too short to waste on trivia, and the “Princess Expert” type sleaze is just annoying. It also annoys me that KO’s “good manners” are patriarchal: His “Sir” is respectful or sarcastic, but he has no equivalent for his female guests. He merely looks uncomfortable for that moment where he would ordinarily slip in the “sir”. Applause to him for employing Rachel Maddow and smart female fill-ins, and for being unafraid to use words with more than 2 syllables and sentences with a dependent clause. Still, less gossip and sports and silliness and more meaty analysis would be much appreciated.

Becky,

Excellent letter on your part. Keith O is THE MAN! His brilliant, erudite and clinically critical analyses of the fascist forces, war criminals and syncophants who have illegally usurped the highest public offices (and the MSM) of the USA are a joy to hear and read. May he live long and prosper. (At times I worry about his longevity, considering the means which the reigning fascists have applied against innocent targets, to-date with apparent impunity). BTW, “Leona” is totally right about Canucks. Canadian, eh? We would elect KO if he ran for Prime Minister!

I’m with G. L. …an over 65 female who tunes out after the “serious stuff”…unless the mister is in the room as he just has to see WORST PERSON…especially when Rush or Bill O’Lielly are involved…still lately I’m becoming concerned about some of the snarkiness creeping into Keith’s comments on COUNTDOWN or other CAMPAIGN 08 events…methinks he may be taking his new found fame and attention to heart…be careful, Keith, you too can be MATTHEWSed….

Sorry if I misunderstood you, Rafismom. What did you mean? Now I’m curious.

For people who are patting themselves on the back for your allegedly superior intellectual skills, you still dont’ seem to be getting it: Olbermann put his foot in his mouth in that interview. Did Fox News fly two airplanes into the World Trade Center on 9/11? So why did he consider them “worse than” Bin Laden and his cronies? Furthermore if you can’t see what’s wrong with soliciting positive letters from a fan site in the face of an avalanche of negative remarks. . . then it is illustrative of the fact that you just don’t understand what journalistic ethics are. Olbermann would be the first to scream about the bias and unethical nature of it all if it involved any other journalist but himself. Apparently, he, like you, knows it when he sees it, just so long as it doesn’t involve himself (yourself).

You go Keith! The dry cleaners I frequent has Fox News on the monitors out front, and I’m usually incensed within seconds of handing over my cardigans. Next time I’m in there, I’m going to threaten to take my business elsewhere unless they turn that tripe off!!!

AK.
N. Hollywood, CA

Over 50 female here who loves Olbermann! Thanks for standing up for him in such an eloquent way.

Anne Kurtzman, how open minded of you. You could always take a book and read while handing over your cardigans. Besides, how long does it take you to drop off or pick up your laundry. Fact is, Keith is an idiot. His off the wall accusations and basesless innuendo are befitting of a man (?) with his lack of intelligence.

Love when Keith talks about politics.

Hate it when you bashes celebs.

Loses a lot of credibility in my book.

SIGH (Imagine that in Big Giant Letters.)

responding to: And, You Still Don’t Get It:

Of course Bill-O and Fox did not fly planes into buildings on 9/11.

For that matter, neither did Bin Laden, and the vicious sociopaths who did so killed themselves in the process.

To me saying that Fox and their friends of all stripes are worse than Bin Laden is that the group sociopaths (I do not use the term terrorists as I think it gives them a certain cache) cannot destroy who and what we are by such a cowardly act, only we can destroy who and what we are from within through spreading unreasoned fear and destroying our Constitution and our Republic and creating more and more elements of a fear filled and hating police state.

Fox spreads wild untruths and is the media arm (or perhaps a less polite part of the media body) of a very narrow interest group with their own agenda.

They are more than fair game.

I think that the FCC should shut them down as a news venue and insist that they label themselves as enterainment.

Dear Orin, Leona, Katy, Spartacus!

Oh, what smiles I have had this evening over your shifting identity.

I meant the comment in my original post both humorously and thankfully as the response to Playboy called for being kind to Keith. It was going out into the big cold world as a counterpoint to all of the neo con nastiness.

He is so like so many members of my family, though much taller, that I have joked to my sister that we probably had an ancestor in common at the Battle of the Teutonberg Forest.

Even if he were my annoying brother, I would not tell the rest of the world that he was annoying.

I did not take Keith’s Playboy comments about his unknown female fans personally, and I find those comments both darkly comic and tragic.

He gets a bad Anthrax scare, is probably on some very right wing lists, comments on air about possibly being sent to Gitmo for his outspokenness, and yet he is worried about what we might look like?

I find that amusing.

While I did not take the comments personally, I was miffed by them as they struck me as akin to a long and frustrating pattern I have found in my own field of being unable to admire a man’s work or to try to talk to him about it without him assuming that I want to sleep with him.

But, I can also understand Keith’s edge on this as I have also been stalked, more than once, and it is terrifying.

One of the risks in having any kind of public persona is the danger that unbalanced people will imagine that they know you and have a relationship with you. I have had it happen to me without a public persona, and it has made me very determined never to be famous.

I can also empathize with those here who did take the comments personally. After all, it comes across as an implication that a group of really bright, thinking people who admire your work are somehow dangerous loons. (And what does it say about you, if you inspire dangerous loons?)

Chicating said it all so well at the time. Far better than I ever could.

Good job Becky. I tune in to Countdown every night, as it is the best news show on each night. I’m not suprised that Playboy got the negative responses. I have been a subscriber to the magazine for 30 years. I know it sounds corny, but I actually do read the articles. I think my progressive views were partly formed by the magazine. I guess the people that don’t like Keith just look at the pictures.

You “wrote up” a letter. How does one do that, writing “up” I mean, and does it hurt?

How sad that the only positive response was from you..actually..it’s not sad, it’s hilariously funny…LOL…what a loser…

Interesting that you had to lie about your identity. No liberals voluntarily wrote Playboy to praise bathtub boy?

I love how you delete opposing views…how fascist of you…

Looks like some of the Olbermann Watch babies here are unhappy that they didn’t get a fair chance in the playpen.

Rafismom, I found your comments very interesting. Although I felt differently about Keith’s Playboy comments than you, I found something about them darkly comic and tragic, too.

You’re right. It does indeed seem strange that the main thing Keith seems to be afraid of is physically hideous fans who might like him too much. Strange and, given his blatant and humorous attempts to promote himself as a sex symbol, hypocritical.

I’m sure no one would say being stalked isn’t terrifying, and even more so when it’s actually happened to you. But you can drive a convoy of Mack trucks between “fan you wouldn’t necessarily want to sleep with” and “stalker.”

Yes, my biggest concern is the “implication that a group of really bright, thinking people who admire your work are somehow dangerous loons.” (And unattractive, to boot!)

And don’t put yourself down. You said it all very, very well.

Methinks that, if the dissenters had a big enough attention span, they’d notice that their comments were actually being posted.

You go AK…tell your cleaners you are offended by being forced to watch Fox while on line. I did that last year with a large chain Bank and went over the head of the local branch manager. All the branches in our area now have CNN Headline News on their TV’s.

How weird and sad that people who are not fans of KO obviously go thru the work and time to find a fansite so they can disparage him to people who aren’t going to pay attention to anything they have to say anyway. Pathetic. I was linked here from Huffpo, a progressive site. If any of the anti-KO trolls got here the same way, it’s just as pathetic because it involves going from one progressive site just to get to another again to post negative crap that no one’s gonna pay attention to anyway. You must not have jobs to be able to waste so much valuable time. You should switch and vote Democrat to improve the economy and work again. Losers. Long live KO!!!

I like Keith.

I like Becky, too.

But she’s not on TV.

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