2013: A year of high-profile open letters
Every few months, a submission will arrive in our inbox at McSweeney's Internet Tendency titled, "An Open Letter to Open Letters" or a variation thereof. In it, an assured writer will bemoan open letters, declaring them whiny, entitled, and obsolete. As an editor of a website's "open letters" feature, I can't help but take these snarky open letters a little personally.
Every few months, a submission will arrive in our inbox at McSweeney's Internet Tendency titled, "An Open Letter to Open Letters" or a variation thereof. In it, an assured writer will bemoan open letters, declaring them whiny, entitled, and obsolete. As an editor of a website's "open letters" feature, I can't help but take these snarky open letters a little personally.
I'll be the first to admit that not all open letters are particularly interesting or worthwhile.
The moniker alone suggests self-indulgence and false gravitas. Why pen a long-winded letter when 140 characters will do? Why not confront your target privately? Send an e-mail or put a note on a car windshield. Just leave the rest of us out of it.
This has been a banner year for high-profile open letters. Singer Sinead O'Connor penned one to offer singer-actress Miley Cyrus career advice. A couple of weeks ago, former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden wrote a lengthy open letter to "the people of Brazil." Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder used the form to defend his team's name.
O'Connor's warning to Cyrus about the underhandedness of the entertainment industry toward young female artists made some cogent points. But Cyrus responded with a few less-than-appreciative tweets, causing O'Connor to write another letter. Then another. And another. O'Connor might have been more successful had she communicated the old-fashioned way: by having her people contact Cyrus' people.
Despite this overabundance of open letters, I will rise in their defense.
Some of the most important documents in history have come in the form of open letters: The New Testament is full of them; Émile Zola's 1898 open letter "J'Accuse!" was an impassioned indictment of the French government's corruption and anti-Semitism; and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" helped set the framework for the civil-rights movement.
The letters we publish on McSweeney's Internet Tendency don't have nearly as lofty goals. But every once in a while, we'll receive an open letter that illustrates how powerful the format can be. A couple of years ago, we posted "An Open Letter to My Sister Who Accepted My Friendship Request On Facebook Sixteen Months After She Died" by Jeannie Zusy. In it, Zusy explained how she still frequents her sister's hacked Facebook page, and sometimes considers writing on her wall.
Such open letters aren't looking to change the world; they're just honest reflections about the world we live in. They show that not all open letters are rife with self-aggrandizement.
This wasn't the best year for the form, it's true. It was a little too full of celebrity-penned missives. If you're a prominent person looking to share your point of view, come up with a more fitting name, such as "Public Rant" or "Personal Revelation I Will Eventually Regret." Those I would be fine with reading more of in 2014.