Dana Parsons, the Los Angeles Times columnist whose recent column Naina critiqued last week took notice of her post on Sepia Mutiny, as well as some of your comments that followed. He decided to use more print space to defend himself against comments from some foreigners that bruised his ego. In the old days, “the good ol’ pre-blogosphere days,” pompous columnists could say whatever they wanted without being called out, unless the editor of the paper decided it was ok. Parsons is waking up to the fact that this isn’t the case any longer. Let’s take a look at part of his rebuttal to Naina’s post. The column was titled “Write locally, insult globally:”

Readers in Newport Beach complained years ago because I let a local resident sound off on his town…

In another column, I upset Stanton residents with some chippy remarks, all meant in good fun. Was it a cheap shot to call the city “the Gateway to Garden Grove?” Yes, but we’re all friends here.

The point is, I expected to be ripped in Newport Beach and Stanton. After all, this column runs in Orange County. They’re part of the local audience.

But those were the 1990s, the good ol’ pre-blogosphere days.

What I didn’t expect was to be clobbered last week by readers of a blog known as Sepia Mutiny that focuses on South Asia issues. That is not what I normally think of as my target audience, although I heartily welcome them if Orange County news is to their liking.

What upset some of its readers were two columns highlighted by blogger Naina Ramajayan. I’m going to guess the website is U.S.-based, because its homepage says “We work out of a top-secret bunker in North Dakota with a passel of trained monkeys…” [Link]

It is okay to counter Naina’s points but the insinuation he makes here is clear. Parsons is attempting to get his local audience to sympathize with his plight. How dare these foreigners offer their opinion on a local OC matter. In the age of the blogosphere such things are bound to happen, he muses (winking at the audience). In case the xenophobic undertones here aren’t clear, how about the following:

Naina is free to spin the columns however she wants, although I appreciate spin much less when it touches a global audience.

and this:

But I at least can try to soothe the ruffled feathers of a miffed Stanton city councilman, as opposed to a reader I can’t reach in India.

In the end, whether you’re writing to an Orange County audience or South Asian, the words speak for themselves. And in that vein, some of Naina’s readers put more thought into the columns than she did and cut me some slack

or this:

So, sorry for the hurt feelings in India and Nepal.

What Parsons didn’t realize…well, here was my email to him (emphasis added), educating him a little about a blog called Sepia Mutiny:

Not only is our website U.S. based but all of the writers are U.S. citizens, most of us born in the U.S. (I for example have lived in CA for 18 years, 4 of which were in local LA, and I received my PhD from UCLA on Monday). We are an American blog and ~70% of our audience is American, with the rest in India, the UK, Canada, and other places. We do not focus on “South Asia Issues.” Only a minority of our posts deal with South Asia. We focus on issues of importance to mostly South Asian Americans. That is a big difference. The vast majority of our posts are about happenings in the U.S. that concern us. Your newest article is therefore misinformed. You are dealing with a mostly “local” audience. Please don’t let our names lead you to believe that we are foreign. You make it sound like Orange County news shouldn’t concern us. Orange County is our backyard.

Thanks.

A minute later I felt compelled to send a follow-up responding to his crack about “hurt feelings in India and Nepal:”

Yes, we must be from India and Nepal. That would make it all so much simpler wouldn’t it. Naina graduated from UCLA also just so you know.

I wanted to end that last email with “bitch,” but I decided to be professional. I wouldn’t want him thinking that people with foreign sounding names were impolite. After all, the local Orange County residents are quite proper.

Bottom line Mr. Parsons, in attempting to defend yourself against a slightly bruised ego, you ended up sounding like a xenophobic ass. Stick to the facts. And remember, we write globally, but we act locally.