Shamu Beats Maureen Dowd

It's just a fascinating curiosity that "What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage" has been at the top of the New York Times Most E-mailed Articles List since Sunday. From a glance at the headline it didn't seem like the article would be that interesting or relevant: I'm not married, and I've never considered Shamu as a potential mentor. Swim instructor, maybe.
However, I usually enjoy The Modern Love column - it's a nice realistic counterpoint to the wedding announcements that are so vain and self-congratulatory. 'Cept Abby and David's though, theirs was down-to-earth and lovable, just like them. (I only have four readers, I can't risk losing one or possibly two!)
As Shamu persisted at the top of the list, and I eventually found his imaginary black shiny flipper beckoning me to click through and read. The author explains that in the process of writing a book on an exotic animal training school (I guess lions aren't just born jumping through flaming hoops) she found that she was penciling emphatic notes-to-self in her notebook margins about trying the training techniques on her husband at home. "The central lesson I learned from exotic animal trainers is that I should reward behavior I like and ignore behavior I don't. After all, you don't get a sea lion to balance a ball on the end of its nose by nagging. The same goes for the American husband." It's a funny and potentially useful piece, but now that I've blogged it, I'll find it harder to surreptitiously apply all the little tricks on Jason. And I'll likely be suspicious that he's trying to condition me.
Which made me wonder, if this article has been so e-mailed across America for so many days, who is sending it to who? (whom?) Are wives e-mailing it to their hubbies as a home study assignment? Maybe not, it seems like the behavioral objectives are best achieved when the training is blinded. Are friends and sisters e-mailing it to each other? Mothers e-mailing it to their daughters? ("Get that no good so-and-so you married to take out the trash sometimes!") Are men e-mailing it to each other as a fraternity brother warning system so that counter-strategies may be deployed? If only Shamu might tell me.
Now, it's worth pointing out that the New York Times Most E-mailed list is not necessarily an endorsement of the most intellectual or educational articles upon which the New York Times would base its character and reputation; today "Star Jones Reynolds's Departure From 'The View' Was in the Works for Months" was number 9. Shame on you if you're about to click the link for that story!