Steve Adler Claps Back at Wonder Woman Hater

Batman and Robin. Green Arrow and Black Canary. Wonder Woman and ... Austin Mayor Steve Adler?

Mayor Steve Adler is usually characterized by those that know him as painfully polite and patient. Fitting that description, he just delivered a most temperate and mellow slapdown to an angry letter writer, enraged that the Alamo Drafthouse will be running a couple of women-only screenings of Wonder Woman.

The angry email came from the account of one Richard A. Ameduri, who seemed to confuse Adler's job as head of council with being a Drafthouse manager. True, there are probably days that running an Alamo comes with less stress and more actual authority than running the city, and days when Adler probably wishes he too could enact a no talk/no text policy in meetings.

However, the letter writer took out on Adler his wrath against the Drafthouse's planned women-only screenings of the DC Comics-based film. Calling for all men to boycott Austin, he railed against gender equality, women's events at the Olympics, and the very concept of a superheroine, arguing that the idea is "a fine example of women’s eagerness to accept the appearance of achievement without actual achievement. Women learn from an early age to value make-up, that it’s OK to pretend that you are greater than you actually are."

Glossing over the fact that superheroes aren't actually real, the author challenges Adler to "name something invented by a woman" or, as he calls them "the second rate gender."

Also, apparently the only thing Austin is famous for is UT Tower shooter Charles Whitman.

The author of this missive told Adler not to respond "because I am sure your cowardice will generate nothing worth reading." However, in line with his personal sense of good will to all, Adler replied via his website – not to the author, but to the account owner.

Dear Mr. Ameduri,

I am writing to alert you that your email account has been hacked by an unfortunate and unusually hostile individual. Please remedy your account’s security right away, lest this person’s uninformed and sexist rantings give you a bad name. After all, we men have to look out for each other!

Can you imagine if someone thought that you didn’t know women could serve in our combat units now without exclusion? What if someone thought you didn’t know that women invented medical syringes, life rafts, fire escapes, central and solar heating, a war-time communications system for radio-controlling torpedoes that laid the technological foundations for everything from Wi-Fi to GPS, and beer? And I hesitate to imagine how embarrassed you’d be if someone thought you were upset that a private business was realizing a business opportunity by reserving one screening this weekend for women to see a superhero movie.

You and I are serious men of substance with little time for the delicate sensitivities displayed by the pitiful creature who maligned your good name and sterling character by writing that abysmal email. I trust the news that your email account has been hacked does not cause you undue alarm and wish you well in securing your account. And in the future, should your travels take you to Austin, please know that everyone is welcome here, even people like those who wrote that email whose views are an embarrassment to modernity, decency, and common sense.

Yours sincerely,

Steve Adler

Surely Ameduri will appreciate the heads-up.