Farhad Manjoo takes to task the grumps who write letters complaining to NPR.
For all its faults, I admit it: I listen to NPR, a lot, and am a member of Minnesota Public Radio. I use it, the public budgets are going south, I can afford to donate, it's only just that I should voluntarily help pay for it.
But even I am not immune to complaining. The only time I thought about writing a gripey letter was once when ATC did a piece on Kipling and they… well, why not let Ethan Stock of Redwood City, California complain for me?
SIEGEL: Ethan Stock(ph) of Redwood City, California was unhappy with our story about plans for a Rudyard Kipling Museum in Mumbai, India.
BLOCK: I expect more from ATC and NPR, he writes. You contrasted the obvious enthusiasm of Indians for Kipling with an excerpt from the poem "White Man's Burden," strongly implying that the Indians are somehow misguided in their appreciation of a Nobel-winning author.
Contrary to your heavy-handed presentation, Kipling was nuanced and subtle observer and reporter of humanity of all shades, from lightest to darkest. Any but the most jaundice reading of "White Man's Burden" will see the heavy irony that lays over every line, including most particularly, "Savage Wars of Peace."
Yeah, what he said!
(Seriously, "jaundiced" doesn't even do it justice. "The archaic sentiments of his poem "White Man's Burden" can be forgiven…." You should hear the tone of voice in which they had the veddy-British-sounding reader enunciate the excerpt. I was shrieking in my driver's seat, "What?!? What?!? It's BRILLIANTLY IRONIC, you fools!" Although apparently there are a lot of people who disagree with me about Kipling's intent, the least NPR could have done is mention that there's a variety of critical opinions on the work, and only some of them paint Kipling as an imperialist bastard who intended every word in the poem seriously.)
So, yeah, I could have written that letter. Call me a grump if you like. (But I'm not as grumpy as some.)
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