I don't normally print emails, but I thought I'd share an amusing one from reader "Kristin Edwards":

Subject: http://www.classicalvalues.com/archives/000019.html

[That's the Leon Kass ice cream post, folks.]

To: escheie_AT_yahoo_dot_com

There are maybe 100 people in America who are disgusted by eating in public. those people are probably very old and sad. YOU are retarded. people don't think like that anymore, wake up! I feel very sorry for your children if you have any...

The issue wasn't eating in public; it was eating (more properly, licking) ice cream in public. An activity said to be "cat-like" of which Leon Kass expressed disapproval in one of his books. I have no idea how many people would agree with the view Kass expressed, and whether it's 100, 1000, or only Kass himself really isn't the point. The point was that Leon Kass said it, and the purpose of the post was simply to point it out and express surprise (and rather restrained ridicule). As to people who might agree with Kass being "very old and sad," I have no way of evaluating their age or mental status, but Kass doesn't strike me as particularly old or sad. The question of whether I am "retarded" is irrelevant to the Kass quote -- and simply an ad hominem attack. Also irrelevant is the contention that my children (if any) would deserve sympathy from Kristin Edwards. (Because of the gratuitous nature of the sympathy, coupled with the ad hominem flavor of the email, its sincerity is doubtful.)

But it's nice to see that someone felt strongly about dietary issues to write to me like this, and I do welcome all readers. Even those who think I'm retarded and pity the children I don't yet have.