After receiving a taunting e-mail last week, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann replied, “Hey, save the oxygen for somebody whose brain can use it. Kill yourself.” Lloyd Grove has Olbermann’s response:

After I forwarded that and other E-mails to an MSNBC exec, Olbermann wrote: “I apologize to anyone who might take offense at my part of this correspondence. It goes without saying that I should not have replied to these abusive and hateful E-mails, but I wonder how many of us could receive literally hundreds of them questioning our patriotism, religion and ethnic origin, without succumbing to the natural wish to confront such hate?”

I’ve received my share of that kind of e-mail. I’ve resisted the urge. But of course, I have no idea what it’s like to live under the pressure of constantly losing to Bill O’Reilly (whom Olbermann calls “evil” in another e-mail). Maybe then I would crack.