KHAAAAAAAANNN!

The Philadelphia Inquirer corrects an error:

In Sunday's Arts & Entertainment section, an article about the film Kill Bill erroneously referred to Ricardo Montalban's character in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as a Klingon. Khan was an evil human bent on universal domination, though he does quote a Klingon proverb.

which, of course leads to this exchange:

From FRANK AHRENS: I suppose a generous reader would allow the spirit of the Philadelphia Inquirer's correction re Ricardo Montalban's role as Khan Noonien Singh in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," and would appreciate, as doubtless would Mr. Montalban, clearing up the fact that he played a human rather than a Klingon, a mistake that is an insult to both species. But the letter of the law would insist on clarifying that Khan, while indeed human, could hardly have been labeled "an evil human bent on universal domination." Rather, he was a product of his times, a superhuman who was bred to be smarter, stronger and more aggressive during the Eugenics Wars of the 1990s. And universal domination? I think not. Rather, Khan is propelled by the entirely sympathetic motivation of avenging his wife's death after he and his people were marooned on a planet that proved barely habitable by Capt. James T. Kirk, who failed to check on their progress, leaving them victim to sandstorms and nasty little creatures that deposit their larvae in victims's ears and wind themselves around the brain stem, bringing madness and a yearning for the sweet relief death would bring.

* * *

From FRANK HAYES: Subject: Frank Ahrens' letter. I was shocked -- shocked! -- to see Frank Ahrens' obvious distortion of history in criticizing that Philadelphia Inquirer correction. As a little research with Google easily turns up, Khan Noonien Singh is hardly just "a product of his times" who's merely avenging his wife's death, as Ahrens suggests. The guy started World War III, for petesake! This is clearly another example of a Beltway insider attempting to bury the sordid past of one of his neofascist heroes. Or maybe it's a typical media liberal making apologies for a notorious terrorist. It's so hard to keep these things straight these days.

All via the ever-informative Romanesko at Poynter.org...