A word or two to Marion

THE EDITOR: Look, I begin by admitting right away that I am no great fan of Marion O’Callaghan’s writing. I find her articles far too long and wordy to sustain my interest. As a former lecturer, I generally advised my students to be terse, concise, and to say what they mean in as few, powerful words as possible. Ms O’Callaghan’s writing I find to be diffuse, overly prolix and flabby, and I hardly ever get beyond the second column, even when determined to read her entire article.  This having been said, I readily admit that I appreciate her earnestness, honesty and the sincerity of her offerings. Her stuff is not my cup of tea, but I do not gainsay Ms O’Callaghan’s intellectual probity nor what are obviously her genuinely charitable intentions.

It is for this reason that I cannot fathom why Ms O’Callaghan has taken it upon herself to try to engage the rabid Ian Taylor in a jousting match.  Taylor’s every public pronouncement is laced with an unreasoning fanaticism, an obsession with human sexuality as something evil and a manifest yearning for the world pre-Vatican II.  His declarations on carnival, coming from a non-priest, would have attracted justified umbrage from almost every quarter.  Has the NCC even made a statement on Taylor’s irrational and nonsensical remarks? I would be quite willing to pay myself for him to attend a dozen or so sessions with a good psychoanalyst. One imagines the findings would be most edifying! To conclude, I would like, in all humility, to proffer a bit of advice to Ms O’Callaghan.  Nothing in any of Taylor’s public statements gives any evidence that he is open to reasonable, intellectually honest or sober debate. Leave that character alone.  There are far worthier issues deserving of your fair pen.

MARTIN BEAUSOLEIL
Toco Road
Rampanalgas