Mob Mechanics.

I sent a letter to the editor of Popular Mechanics. I would have liked to send a punch in the nose, but you can't mail that, and besides I'm to busy to face charges. God knows there are a lot of people who would benefit from a punch in the nose, but God also did not appoint me to the job of distributing them.

This is in response to a ghastly story posted to the magazine's site, giving instructions to the mindless know-nothings terrorizing our cities about how best to tear down statues "using science." Because mob rule is allowed to trump civilization if the mob is really, really having a tantrum and can't even, apparently. There is some thought that the piece is satire, but it doesn’t strike me that way — and it’s hard to believe a magazine from Hearst, home of condescending wokeness, would dare satirize the mobs.

Here is what I wrote:

Dear Editor:

Have you absolutely lost your minds?

Popular Mechanics is a magazine about building, about human achievement, and you run a story catering to the mindless mob?

Next up: E-Z Molotov Cocktails! Zip Guns for Children! How to Lay Siege to Government Buildings! Make Your Statement with the McVeigh Method!

You ought to be ashamed, but since you work for Hearst, I suppose that’s impossible.

-Fred Key

If you are inclined to weigh in on the subject, pro or con, I suggest you let the editor know your feelings care of editor@popularmechanics.com. Or you can write to the glass house that Hearst spends its days in near Columbus Circle (soon to be Indigenous Persons Circle, I suppose) in Manhattan:

Gee, nice building. I sure hope
the woke mobs don't decide it's
"problematic." 

Popular Mechanics
300 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019

I've never worked for that particular magazine, but I've always admired its dedication to the art and science of engineering and tinkering. Now it wants to be on the side of brutal, stupid destruction. The editors have chosen poorly.