Every time I write or say anything publicly about Sarah Palin I receive a pile of mail. Hate mail from Palin fans who demand blind adoration of their conservative heroine.
Fox viewers were particularly upset by my "smirk." Since Fox used only my voice during a TV interview, these people must be mentalists.
A Lowell, Mass., man began his letter "Dear Mikey" and closed with "Hope you fall into the abyss, Sincerely yours, Al."
I have been told what I can do with myself. Jump off a cliff is at least printable. The rest of the suggestions are what, in Oscar Wilde's day, were known as "unnatural acts." It's curious that while my correspondents know the various body parts involved they sometimes cannot spell them. (They do, however, spell in ALL CAPS.)
Then there are the biblical scholars. Perhaps you haven't had time to read Zacharias 10:2? I called my cousin, a professor of theology in Minnesota, for an explanation. Apparently God is going to send us a leader who will make war. Yep, warrior princess Sarah Palin. "This is a favorite with fundamentalists," Steve Haggmark told me.
I have also been told to go back to where I came from. That would be Fairbanks, where I was born.
Plus, I have been hammered for my "fancy" education. At least that charge is partially true. I attended colleges in the East and South that actually required students to read books and write in sentences. I still can't believe that at 19 I plowed through a semester of medieval philosophy -- Boethius was gloomy going for a kid from the Golden Heart City. And, sure, I will admit it: The guys in my dorm smoked dope and listened to Jimi Hendrix, so perhaps too much "Purple Haze" is stunting my appreciation for SP.
Sarah Palin is probably the most divisive figure in America. When I visited New York and Boston a few months ago, I was amazed by the hostility she generates. In Boston, she is the high-heeled wicked witch of the West. New Yorkers explode if they find out you are from Alaska. "How could you inflict this horrible right-wing woman on us?" they demand.
It's tough to explain I didn't "inflict" Palin on anybody. I simply wrote about her, commented on her. I found myself actually defending her at a dinner party in Cambridge, refuting the charge that she's stupid. She's not -- I know that from meeting her.
Those "fancy" schools of yesteryear trained me as a historian, and the historian in me wonders what future generations will make of Palin. My guess is -- the magic is all in the moment. The people of tomorrow will have difficulty comprehending why she inspired such passion, why supporters swooned and opponents raged. Much as some students asked to read "The Iliad" struggle with the premise. Was Helen of Troy -- "the face that launched a thousand ships" -- worth the Trojan War?
As for Palin's legacy, that remains to be seen beyond her celebrity -- the most famous Alaskan, ever. But one woman I overheard in Fairbanks did point out a concrete Palin achievement we all can celebrate. "Thanks to Sarah, when I order stuff over the phone from Outside, the sales clerks no longer say, 'Sorry, we don't ship to foreign countries.'"
Michael Carey is the former editorial page editor of the Anchorage Daily News. He can be reached at mcarey@adn.com.
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