A letter from Austin Culp is always wonderful, because Mr. Culp is one of our greatest, most underappreciated comedians; his commitment to the persona exhibited in his letters, that of an ultraconservative crank utterly immune to facts and reason who refuses to break character even while making the most ridiculous statements places him alongside Andy Kaufman and Sacha Baron Cohen. However, with his latest letter he's topped himself: following a pandemic that killed hundreds of thousands in the U.S., and affected countless others, a state of affairs which has left many understandably hesitant to stop wearing a mask, Culp asserts that it is mask-wearing itself that is the truly destructive tragedy taking place. Now that, as the comedians of old would say, is chutzpah!
Ignoring how growing up in the middle of a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic could likely be psychologically traumatic, Culp accuses "useless and dangerous" masks of causing "psychological damage to children" while saying nothing of the possible trauma resulting from life-threatening illness, or the untimely loss of a parent, grandparent, or other loved ones. All of this barefaced absurdity culminates in the insinuation that the entire situation was somehow engineered in order to discredit the former president, whose endless mismanagement of the pandemic exacerbated the crisis beyond all expected bounds - an excellent punchline!
Ultimately, Culp's letters are so powerful because they act as thought experiments as well as entertainment; can you imagine what this country would look like if this sort of dangerous nonsense was actually taken seriously?
Jordan West lives in Dilworth.
This letter does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Forum's editorial board nor Forum ownership.
