The Art of Spin With Anything CUBA

Funny how when this piece went up on Salon.com:

http://www.salon.com/2012/12/31/the_way_we_left_cuba/

...the editors inserted a headline, attributed falsely to me, saying Cuba was an "Orwellian nightmare." I complained, not before the comment section and some hate mail assailed me as a "right wing, Cuba-bashing opportunist shit," as one person put it. Seemed as if 90% didn't read beyond the headline. Even a metaphor in the piece comparing Havana's current state to a young girl, just sexualized, staring and smiling with rotten teeth at tourists had another person imply I was a pedophile.

So Salon's editor compromised with me on the headline I complained about, though "reluctant to do so," (as the bulk of the article, he argued, would balance it off) and attributed another headline to me, which I didn't write, calling Cuba "by turns beautiful and terrifying."

Seemed that was as close as they'd let the piece get to ambiguity by way of introduction.

Charming times we live in...