At the end of this post I’ve added the email that Jimmy Saranpaa sent me. He’s an Iron Range politico who has loathed the Democratic Party since it put a muzzle on the Iron Range and began the process of removing the Boundary Waters Canoe country from the ownership of Rangers depriving them of snowmobiling, motor boats and in his view, good jobs.
I’m hardly a prude. I’d already submitted a column to the Reader about masturbation. I think its a funny column. I encourage you to read it. But I’ve got a couple red lines. One of them is old fashioned chivalry which I know is out of fashion. I simply know that men are on average 15 percent larger than their female counterparts, everywhere in the world, and have a hell of a lot more muscle mass. Throw in testosterone and a lack of kindness and that’s where you get the promiscuous use of rape against women.
Having been raised in an era where I had a quarter century of chivalry drummed into me I’ve been reluctant to let it go. One of the lessons I learned was from my Father a man who bent over backwards not to get into fights. He told me that when a bully harasses you you have two stand up to him (or her). He also told me about the only fight he ever got into. As a sailor in World War II while serving in a naval gun crew protecting a merchant ship in the Pacific there was an Armenian who picked fights with everyone on the ship. My Dad avoided him like the plague. But one day the Armenian cornered my shrinking violet of a Dad and tried to provoke him into a fight. He used all manner of insults but got nothing. Then the Armenian pulled out the kicker. He sullied the character of my Dad’s Mother. With that my Dad put up his dukes. To my Dad’s immense relief the Armenian was satisfied. He left my Dad puzzling over his good fortune. That anecdote told me where I had to draw a red line.
That line extends to all of the women I know. Mr. Saranpaa has sent me letters calling President Obama a “N_ _ _ _ _ .” When I expressed my anger and Jimmy continued, I began deleting his emails for many months. But I am powerfully drawn to Will Roger’s credo, “I never met a man I didn’t like.” We better return to that credo if we are ever going to patch up the violent differences between the Fox News crowd and everybody else. So, I resumed reading Jimmy’s email and responding to them – until now. this email crossed my red line:
A little background: Saranpaa sent me an email with a link from a Republican newspaper urging an examination of Joe Biden’s alleged sexual assault.
My short reply to Jimmy:
“We looked at Kav’s (Justice kavanaugh) why not? Only difference is that the voters do the choosing for the presidency and the Senate does the choosing for the SC (Supreme Court). We chose Trump why not Biden?”
In reply Jimmy’s reply crossed the line:
From: northrn@mchsi.com
Date: 5/2/20 2:48 PM (GMT-06:00)
To: harrywelty
Subject: Re: New York Times editorial board calls for DNC to investigate Biden sexual assault allegation
“Because Biden is anti-gun, pro-murder by abortion violence, pro-environMENTAL extremeism, pro-drug abuse, anti-Iron Range and Borderland and his mental cognitive condition is debilitating. But then, I guess if you and Claudia have an orgasm screwing over the people to your North, maybe Biden is your aphrodisiac. Say Hi to the “fictitious Bible” thumper Claudia.”
My Red line? You leave my innocent family out of your quarrels with me.
