An open letter to anyone who writes open letters

If you are in the habit of reading newspapers and news websites, its a fairly common practice of journalists to write what they call an "Open Letter" to someone who is in the news, regarding something that is in the news, trying to tell that someone that he is probably not doing the right thing in the opinion of the journalist. Like today, I came across an Open Letter to Raj Thackeray on ibnlive.in.com written by Rajdeep Sardesai. I respect his journalism (hoping he doesn't do a Barkha Dutt on my belief) and the views he has expressed in the letter. But what I don't get is the effectiveness of these Open letters.

For one, I don't think they are read by the person they are mainly intended at. For second, I don't think a letter is the form of reasoning that the intended person really understands. For if it were that simple, there wouldn't have been the need for the letter. The world would have been a much rational place. 

A counter argument can be made by the journos that its their duty to speak up about the wrongs and rights in the society and even if some readers of the letter are affected and moved by the contents, no one loses anything. True, but again, when I imagine the reader of a letter like this who can be moved, I expect it to be someone who is open minded e.g. An Open letter to Raj Thackeray is well indicative of the contents it will carry. Hence a Thackeray fanatic will only read the letter to plan his insult on ibnlive. A non-fanatic passive person will just admire Rajdeep Sardesai's writing and will probably agree with his views. A non-fanatic activist will probably leave comments for the news post and thank Rajdeep for a wonderful letter. And a lot of people will never visit the post and just scroll down the site to go to entertainment section. It ends there. Another day will be another news.

The problem is the times have changed. There was an era where Lokmanya Tilak started his newspapers Kesari and Maratha to inspire people. People did read and did react as was told to us in history. Today, the daily newspaper doesn't invoke the same sentiments. It tires me to read of another scam, another killing, another rape, another war, another elections. If you wanted to change any of the daily headlines, where would you start? 

Years ago when I was in junior college, one of my english teacher asked me if I was affected by the soldiers who died in Kargil. I said "not really". It was an honest answer but  considering the shocked look on my teacher's face I realized it wasn't the right thing to say. But back in college what affected me were my exams, my grades, my family conditions, rainfall disrupting train service, trying to make new friends, hoping to get into engineering and things like that. What affects me today are my project, my job, deadlines, my family, my friends, hoping to find a special someone, money. The closest I came to doing something for the society was when few months back I joined NYCares to do some volunteer work. But they had this orientation lecture that I needed to attend before I can really participate and those orientations were in the city and during weekdays. So I haven't attended any so far due to time constraints that prevailed due to my job. Excuses. 

We all would like to see a change in the world, but today there is always a lure of something more important in our own lives which subdues us from caring for the rest of the world. I do not think its a letter in a news paper than can change people. It is only we who can change ourselves.