Writers being pounced on

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Ah, Ms Meyer — self-appointed “corrector” of letters to the editor.

My only familiarity with you is through the letters page so I do not assume we are on a first-name basis.

I hesitate to suggest this, but is it possible you may have a touch of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)? You seem ready to pounce on any writer who has views contrary to your own.

From what I have seen (I am a retired journalist with 40 years' experience and a sub-editor at The Gisborne Herald for some years), you seem ready to pick a fight with correspondents on almost every subject. Is it just that you have too much time on your hands?

I have personally commented to the editor on the deterioration in the tone and style of letters in recent times. We hear too much from the same small group of people, often fruitlessly hammering away at each other on well-worn subjects, and in a tone that verges on the impolite.

The ability to fire online slingshots via the Herald's website is far too easy — these are not letters to the editor but, too often, personal attacks.

I have stated before, it is not my habit to reply to people who plainly cannot take the time or care to read and properly understand a letter.

Suffice to say I stand by what I said regarding science, matauranga Maori and whare wananga.

I recommend the writings of those who have taken a keen interest in the customs and lore of the pre-colonial Maori. Elsdon Best is one of a number of people who tried to record the Maori way of life and who were soon followed by Maori who could see knowledge being lost.

Roger Handford