Suck.com Sounds Off On the Mythbusters 'R' Us Hate Mail Page
Posted on http://www.suck.com, January 6, 2000

Speaking of hate mail: It's a none-too-well-kept secret that the Web's most useful application (not counting porn) is verbal abuse. The best abuse, of course, comes from verbally challenged emailers who know that since they didn't pay anything to read your stuff, they're free to can the Mr. Nice Guy routine.

And while we're proud of our own collection of semi-literate email vituperation, our hats are off to "Myth Buster" Mike Fumento, whose Hate Mail page ranks among the finest we've seen online.

The aptly named Fumento has set himself the impressive, if not admirable, goal of being the most irritating human being on the planet, and he follows a shrewd principle: If you're going to be an asshole, be a really meticulous asshole. His writings dissect, in thorough, well-sourced detail, various public "myths" of heterosexual AIDS, of Gulf War Syndrome, of domestic abuse, etc.

We take no stand on these various controversies, but the controversialist deserves some praise. A sloppy commentator might class Fumento as a right-wing or libertarian nut; but like all good troublemakers, he defies easy categorization. We're nonplussed to find there's a Mike Fumento Web ring, but as his articles replete with tales of editors, military officials, and think-tank goons telling the author to fuck off and die can attest, Fumento is a man who relishes his enemies.

Like any diabolical genius worth his salt, he knows the elegance of simplicity: Publish unexpurgated (but painstakingly sic'd) angry reader mail decorated with the hoariest of all animated GIFs (you know the culprits: the yapping skull, the vampire in the window, the lunging dragon). Then write hilarious, diagnostic responses (decorated with an image of the sun, presumably to represent the light the author is bringing into the world). Dress it all in an oddly pre-postmodern conviction that you alone have access to The Truth, and anybody who disagrees is an idiot or an imbecile or both.

Fumento's willingness to get down in the mud with his enemies actually strikes us as more efficient than our own attitude of Olympian disdain (which you can be sure we're as bored with as you are). We're also hoping Suck readers may come up with newer and better forms of hate mail. (Just so you know: "You suck," "You guys REALLY do Suck," and "Ordinarily I like your page but today's just sucked" no longer cut it.) But for the time being, the Myth Buster enjoys top honors. Keep those cards and letters coming.

(This article originally appeared in Suck.com, and is used here with permission.)

Hate Mail, An Introduction