Dear Readers,

A few weeks ago I noticed that Creators Syndicate, with whom I was under contract for a weekly column, was allowing its liberal columnists to use the homosexual slang, “tea baggers” and “tea bagging,” in clear reference to American citizens protesting unconstitutional overreach and out-of-control spending of taxpayers’ hard-earned money.  I lodged a formal complaint with the top editors and demanded that the practice stop.  I said that I would disengage with the Syndicate if the practice continued.

When the editors refused to even entertain a discussion on the merits of my complaint, and instead showed me the door, I apologized for my hastiness and tried to save the prestigious contract.  This is the thing which I, of course, regret.  Words either matter — or they don’t.  If they do not matter, then we are all clinging to a quickly sinking civilizational ship.

I am putting my final letter to Creators here in its entirety for my readers to judge.  I’ll still be around and I’ll still be writing from my own research, my gut and my lifetime of real-world experience.  I hope there will remain a few who’ll give me the time to consider my opinions.  Thank God and the USA for the internet!  Without it, thousands of valid voices would go silent.

Here is my concluding letter to Creators Syndicate:

Mr. Rick Newcomb, President
Creators Syndicate
5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 700
Los Angeles, CA 90045

Dear Mr. Newcomb:

I respectfully accept your decision to release me from my contract with Creators Syndicate. I would appreciate your forwarding written confirmation of the release as soon as possible. My attorney has requested this so as to avoid any future involvement between myself and Creators.

Now that I have had time for reflection, I realize that my effort to reconcile with you after lodging my formal complaint was against both my conscience and my own best interests. The tantalizing lure of keeping the national-syndication prestige indeed got the momentary better of me. I was wrong to recant for asking you to prohibit the sexual slurs, “tea-bagger” and “tea-bagging,” from your published columns.

Not to worry, though, I’ve already gone to confession!

While I respect all of the people with whom I’ve worked at Creators, I stand by my belief that words do indeed matter a great deal and that, as a leader in the public discourse, you bear a burden of responsibility to both your subscribers and to your readers. Permitting the use of guttersnipe sexual slurring seems irresponsible and unbefitting an organization of Creators’ stature.

I have been reading newspapers for 50 years. I have never read a syndicated column anywhere in these United States - in all that time! — which made use of heterosexual slang in the way that the homosexual terms, “tea-bagger” and “tea-bagging,” are now being used in Creators columns to refer to American citizens, who are protesting profligate government spending and unconstitutional overreach.

Reputable authors certainly employ self-restraint regarding heterosexual epithets and it’s doubtful that columnists ever submit work to your editors, using words such as “cocksucker” or “pussy” or “dick-brain,” as clear references to political adversaries. If they did submit work with these types of sexual slurs, I do not - for even one minute - believe that your editors would give them a pass.

Hiding homosexual slurs behind the ignorance of a 95% heterosexual adult population is the kind of thing one would expect from middle-schoolers on an unsupervised playground. It is not acceptable behavior from presumably civilized adults.

In fact, it is the equivalent of a person shouting vile insults in English at a foreigner, while standing upon the assumption that the person being slimed doesn’t know the language and is therefore an easy target for unbridled scorn and ridicule. Such childish, contemptible behavior ought to, at the very least, have some sort of boundary. This is not, as your editor suggested, censorship. It’s just plain decency and ordinary common sense.

Now, perhaps my failure to produce the sales you anticipated, after a mere two months of syndication, was indeed the only reason you decided to release me so prematurely from my contract. The fact that your telephone call was timed immediately after my lodging this complaint, however, leaves me skeptical on that point. Speaking with other Creators columnists about the number of years they’ve written for you and the paltry numbers of sales they have, adds greatly to my skepticism. But you are a businessman of seemingly good judgment and have certainly acted within your rights in making the decision to release me. I have no quarrel whatsoever on that count.

I do sincerely hope, however, that you and your editorial board will seriously consider the nature of my complaint. As editors, and as ladies and gentlemen, you do have a responsibility to uphold decent standards of public civil discourse. In that, I believe, you are falling far short in your duty and if I failed to say so, I would not be abiding my own conscience. If one’s moral conscience does not supercede self-interest, then what’s a civilization for?

Now, that’s my two cents, honey, and I’m sticking to it. It was also my penance for trying to back down, and now I’m off the hook with the Big Guy, the only One I ever have to answer to.

Thank you for your attention. Please forward a written and unconditional contract release at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely yours,

Kyle-Anne Shiver
Independent — 100% Liberated — Author