Hate-mail from Finland

Can you spell I-R-O-N-Y?

Last week’s story titled ”Tallink’s Slave Ship: a Defense” generated loads of mail, most of it hate-mail. “Virolaiset ovat mulkkuja,” (Estonians are pricks) wrote one reader, who, while vulgar, seemed to accurately express the current sentiment toward Estonia felt by much of Finland. Others expressed disgust and a sense of hopelessness about Estonia: “Kansassa vika,” (Something wrong with the nation) wrote one reader. Others wrote to ask if the City Paper editor wasn’t on the payroll of Tallink.

Fortunately, most readers accurately recognized that City Paper was not really attempting to defend the actions of Tallink’s management, and that the editor was unlikely to be accepting bribes to write such stories. If you were Tallink paying for a story, would you want your ships called “slave ships”? Well, maybe. But only if you’re very, very clever.

We would like to thank the one reader who displayed his wonderful sense of humor, suggesting that Tallink’s new fast ferry should be named The Pugilist (the ferry is actually named Star).