On reading the letter to the editor (Tifton Gazette, 29 December 2010), “Return to Rugged Individualism,” my first impression was that it was a parody of right-wing political views. In the absence of a smiley or other emoticon or some acquaintance with the author or his political views, the reader has few clues for determining whether the content was a parody. Only the last paragraph suggests it was not. But before reaching that last paragraph, the reader is faced with a letter in which Poe’s Paradox applies.

Poe’s Law, from which the Paradox is derived, states that “It is impossible to create a parody of fundamentalism that someone won’t mistake for the real thing.” For the word “fundamentalism,” substitute “right-wing” and then put it into a restated version of the Paradox, and you get something like this: “Where Poe’s Law applies, a paradox exists when any declaration that is sufficiently right-wing to be accepted as such by right-wingers is likely to be so ridiculous that it risks being seen by others as a parody.”

The author attempts to conjure up a John Wayne fantasy universe of rugged individualism, yet seems unaware of the possibility that those who did not perform as well as he did in it were perhaps held back in ways that are conveniently overlooked by himself and others of the political right.

The moral seems to be that you should take care not to congratulate yourself too extravagantly if the other guy has been tripped up in ways that you fail to appreciate.

Dick Marti

Tifton