Why?
Why do you hate open letters?
I have heard a lot of criticism for open letters, and while some of it is legitimate, some is not. I have read how open letters are a disgrace to journalism. I have read that people who write open letters are lazy, technically unskilled writers. I have read that open letters have no factual support or literary legitimacy. While in some cases, those statements might be true, there is actually far more behind an open letter than what meets the eye.
Open letters are not brainless rambles--well, successful open letters are not brainless rambles. Successful open letters utilize methodology similar to that of constructing social problems. That means politicians, activists, published authors, and many other positions of people use similar tactics every day. Open letters are typified stories. They appeal to peoples' emotions more than statistics every could. In fact, studies show people are far more likely to donate to a cause after hearing the story of one particular person helped by the cause than after having heard a list of positive statistics.
Which of the following would more likely make you feel positively toward open letters: 75 percent of people have been spurred to action after reading an open letter; or, a young professional named Bobbie read an open letter addressed to recent college graduates discussing how it is okay not to know what you want to do with your life, and after reading that article, she decided the author was right. Instead of going to graduate school, she decided to go into the Peace Corps. Now she is a member of the Foreign Service, and she is serving as the ambassador to Nicaragua.
I am guessing the second option was more compelling. Although it was obviously not well-written or about a serious topic, reading a name is far more personal than reading a number. This is the methodology used by the majority of nonprofit organizations and activists in addition to commercial companies. People did not care about Syrian refugees until a picture showed the body of a little boy washed up on a shore; the story of that little boy's death did more for the case of refugees than any statistic mentioning the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have died crossing the Mediterranean.
The same social problems methodology is utilized for almost every cause, including those of politicians. It can be seen in both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton's party nominee acceptance speeches. Each candidate mentions the names and stories of specific people affected by tragedies to appeal to emotions: the mother of a man who died in a night club in Orlando, the father of a man who died in Iraq, the brother and sister of a woman who died in a terrorist attack. These stories support each candidate's platform more than numbers ever could.
Open letters do the exact same work--and they are just as successful. Few styles of articles go viral the way open letters do. So the next time you read an open letter and want to criticize it as lazy, brainless drabble, think again. Open letters utilize incredibly tactful methodology, and they are harder to write than they look.
