Dear Editor,
Most writers aren't the most inspiring role models if you look at their lives instead of their words. In addition to significant writers, and those who merely write for television, this applies to me and most of us would-be "greats" who've scriven in the pages of little magazines.
The entertainment industry is notorious for providing horrible role models. Mickey Mouse is maybe an exception. As ever, beauty and glamor are no warranty of virtue.
Most people of high measured intelligence do not seem to have much better character than their less intelligent contemporaries. In fact, sometimes it seems to be the more intelligent who feel they can live "above the law". This is all perhaps explained as natural hubris in those who are in some sense successful, but like hubris, it is a fatal flaw leading to an ongoing tragedy. The masses are perishing for lack of leadership.
I'm wary of our own e1itist claims, and take my membership with a grain of sa1t. There should be special warnings to the above categories that "this talent may be dangerous to your (moral) health, and cause pride".
The po1itician in a democracy hobnobs with the hoi polloi for the sake of votes. His character is a sycophant to the winds of popular opinion. That is not a sign of character either.
Richard Kovac