Keller chimes back

My letter [December 8: "Hook dishonors community"] certainly generated emotional responses– which is appropriate since I wrote it mainly from emotion myself.

I think I will have to forward the [December 15] "Let's let Keller dictate" letter to my children. I used to tell them that our family was "a democracy run by a dictator," so I'm afraid they would see a lot of validity in that response. (I'm pretty sure most of my children would also disagree with my point of view about the original story.)

Just for the record, I think the best journalism forces us to look at issues we would prefer to avoid: like harmful drinking, racism, drug abuse, and sexual assault.

My objection– which my emotional response did not make clear, I grant– was to what I perceived to be a choice to give prominence and display, as a cover story, to a behavior that is inherently very dangerous. I wonder how The Hook and readers would feel about a cover story that posed the question, with picture, "Date rape: tradition or insanity?"

Adrienne Keller, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Psychiatric Medicine