Over the years I’ve received some really nasty emails. In this line of work, it comes with the territory. Indeed, my best editors used to say if you’re not being abused by half your readers, then you’re probably better suited to corporate communications anyway.
I also get that nobody is 100% balanced all of the time. So my standard approach to hate mail is to try imagine the correspondent had a really bad day which they needed to take out on somebody. Better me than their wife or dog. Had we been eyeballing each other, the discourse would have surely been a lot more civilised.
That’s not an invitation to join my critics. But simply a reminder that email is the ideal rant-machine. And that before hitting send, it’s best to apply Otto von Bismarck’s policy which forced his soldiers to wait 48 hours before laying a charge. After a few breaths, righteous indignation usually fades as consciousness returns. Because we’re only human.
