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Don't worry, ghosts still love you ~ Dear Abby

autumn1971 said:
It's not such bad advice; after all, we all know that baby Jeebus watches us all the time, and cries as we masturbate.
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Well, only when the seed falls/spills on the ground - and then only 'cause his daddy has to kill us.:jaw-dropp:D:D:D:rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
Brattus said:
LOL! Gotta love how Dear Abby responses are so 50s.
Always cracks me up.

So just so I have it right in my head.
Son has got the wife strapped into the sex swing it took him a week to install in their bedroom. He's got a baa baa up his waa waa and she's spinning around howling like a wolf to the moon with her no vacancy sign lit up and dear ol' Mom is a lookin' down from the pearly gates wishin' them many more years of vibrating gyrating baby oiled marital bliss?

Gotta love it!
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"So, when are we gonna' hear some good news?"
 
If the letter was seeking solace, having just lost a loved one, I could almost understand using woo-y concepts like "spirits" and "ghosts" to help comfort them. Yes, it is woo, but some of least harmful woo out there. Sometimes we just want to be comforted.

But this letter was seeking the opposite- this reader expressed a FEAR that the ghost of a not-yet-dead person would stalk them from the afterlife. This presents a clear opportunity to score a double-whammy: comfort the reader, and debunk nonsense at the same time.

And it could have been handled with a gentle touch, without raising the ire of her religious readers. Example:

Dear Spooked:

If you found evidence that your dead relatives were watching you in the bathroom, you'd be the first.

Abby
 
Another silly bugger heard from. She has a family member dying from cancer...and it is all about her and her fears. Egocentric and nothing a good kick in the arse wouldnt help. Gee,all these psychology courses I took are coming in helpful...I would use one of the books to slap her over the head with....enough of me rant,though.
 
Okay, I just submitted my response. Here is the link in case others want to respond as well. I have been reading her for years and can't remember her ever having a skeptical approach. Maybe we could send off a ton to her and she will finally realize the error of her ways....then I wake up.

Still it is important to make our opinions heard, saying nothing does nothing. At least I feel better sending my response.

http://www.uexpress.com/dearabby/dearabby_form.html
 
sgf8 said:
Okay, I just submitted my response. Here is the link in case others want to respond as well. I have been reading her for years and can't remember her ever having a skeptical approach. Maybe we could send off a ton to her and she will finally realize the error of her ways....then I wake up.

Still it is important to make our opinions heard, saying nothing does nothing. At least I feel better sending my response.

http://www.uexpress.com/dearabby/dearabby_form.html
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That picture of... well, whoever it is, probably the daughter... is remarkably frightening. :eye-poppi

After reading the original letter and reply again, I think what bothers me the most is that this writer is clearly having some serious psychological problems, and that those aren't addressed at all in the response. Her mother-in-law has terminal cancer, and this woman is obsessing about her ghost coming back to watch her and her husband have sex??? Abby needed to avoid the entire ghost nonsense issue and concentrate on that, which didn't happen.
 
Well...that actually is a logical assumption. If you accept life after death and dead relatives watching their loved ones in life...then your mother in law would be able to see all that you did. All that you did. It's a natural assumption and a very, very common fear.

I remember reading years ago that there is actually a scientific term for the fear of one's dead relatives watching one masturbate.

So...I actually don't find her fear that insane.

Then, I was raised Roman Catholic and was told by my parents and grandmother that my two dead grandfathers hovered over me day and night and could see me every time I fought with my little sister and was otherwise "bad"...and that they were both very, very disappointed with me.
 
It just keeps getting better and better...

http://www.uexpress.com/dearabby/

DEAR ABBY: I have enjoyed the "pennies from heaven" stories you print from time to time. For a while I have wanted to write and tell you my story.A few days after my mother passed away, my husband and I went to dinner at a local restaurant. We usually pay for our dinners with a credit card, but this time we decided to use cash. Our change was a few dollars and a penny.
For some reason, I decided to check the date on the penny. It was dated 1922, the year of my mother's birth. I am in my 50s and had never found such an old penny before. The 1922 penny is now among other treasures that my mother left me.


I don't believe in coincidences, Abby. I really do believe Mother had something to do with the penny we received. I consider it my "penny from heaven." -- SEATTLE READER


DEAR READER: A penny as proof of a mother's love? I wouldn't be surprised.
 
Sheesh, dead relatives watching us, pennies from heaven... Dear Abby is starting to sound like a Sylvia Browne fan.
 
sgf8 said:
DEAR READER: A penny as proof of a mother's love? I wouldn't be surprised.
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That settles it: everything Abby writes is supposed to be read in a sarcastic tone of voice.
 
Yeah, I too read that as sarcastic. That has to be ironic.

Either that or gently going along with the letter writer's delusions.
 
EeneyMinnieMoe said:
Yeah, I too read that as sarcastic. That has to be ironic.

Either that or gently going along with the letter writer's delusions.
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I thought about that, but she said: DEAR ABBY: I have enjoyed the "pennies from heaven" stories you print from time to time.

So it sounds like this isn't the first time.
 
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ExMinister said:
I thought about that, but she said: DEAR ABBY: I have enjoyed the "pennies from heaven" stories you print from time to time.

So it sounds like this isn't the first time.
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It isn't. It's been going on for several years now. The first ones weren't awful, more "if it makes you feel better to believe that, go ahead," kind of things. Nothing like this "I'm scared my mother-in-law will watch me having sex" episode.
 
Yeah I have been reading the pennies stories for years. The IIG is launching a web site soon called www.theoddsmustbecrazy.com It partly will combat some of these consiencendce stories. The idea is that the more people read what will be submitted they will realize how common it is. In fact it would be more odd if these things didn't happen. Its a subtle way to introduce skepticism into thinking.
 
EeneyMinnieMoe said:
Yeah, I too read that as sarcastic. That has to be ironic.
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You know, it seems to me that you really do have to wonder. For all we know, "Abby" spends all of her time snickering sarcastically at these bizarre letters.
 
I used to read the original "Abby"- or "Ann" ; I never could tell them apart but I'm fairly certain that I read both of them- and the old one had a bit of a woo-woo side.

She'd sometimes print tacky touchy feely superstitious goo-goo stuff like this- but at other times, she was a cold eyed realist who urged people to be rational and sensible.

So who knows.

It's possible she was a rationalist when it came to some things- even a lot of things- but not others. That happens.
 
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Or the answers are really getting written by whoever in the office isn't busy at the time.
 
ExMinister said:
You're right, that is unbelievably inane. I think you should send your response, too.

Recently MSN ran an article titled "Astrology: Fact or Fiction?" I took time to read it, anticipating an at least somewhat balanced review of the ideas of believers versus skeptics. Nope. Instead it was a silly one-sided interview with an astrologer addressing criticisms and reassuring readers that yep, astrology is fact. I was so disgusted by the misleading title of the article versus the content that I wrote a letter to complain.

I don't know if it helps, but it can't hurt to let them know that there ARE intelligent readers who don't appreciate this kind of thing.
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The media outlets, including Dear Abby are not only counting on us not contemplating, they are actively trying to keep the audience as uniformed as possible. If Abby actually responded with the truth, "woman, there are no ghosts and you are desperately trying to concentrate on anything other than your current troubles." Someone else may read that and assume the same thing, before you know it, no one is writing to her and she no longer has a job. If she coddles fantasy and keeps people thinking she posseses some wisdom beyond the audience's understanding, well, she is guaranteed that audience.

The same goes for MSN and the likes. Would they have a following if they actually kindled some kind of skeptical criticism among their audience?
 
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