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LETTERS | JANUARY 26, 1998 VOL. 151 NO. 4 |
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Letters PICTURES FROM THE YEAR EMOTIONS RULED
"It is distressing that violence, beauty and celebrity rank
higher than Mother Teresa, who dedicated her entire life to a
noble cause."
It would be naive to think that the emotions of 1997 were not
influenced by the press and photographers [Dec. 22]. I fear the
amount of influence the media have in shaping the perception of
events, a misgiving that was reinforced by your theme "Pictures
from a Year the News Turned Emotional." That fear is,
unfortunately, justified when good judgment is not exercised.
The close-up photograph of Evander Holyfield's ear not only
turned my stomach (again) but also made me ashamed of our
culture. Perhaps you should try harder to ensure that the method
you use to invoke emotion in your readers is not sensationalistic.
Once again you've featured Diana on your cover. Enough! You have
earned yourselves a place in your own "Di-Ploitation Watch."
Roger Rosenblatt's article was good, but I hardly believe that
in 1997 people were driven by "apocalyptic, fin-de-siecle
anxieties about the approaching millennium." It is true that
people get touchy when encountering the finale of a century, and
even more so at the end of a millennium. However, violence,
insane mass hysteria, suicides, murders and a highly emotional
society are not produced by the end of a period of time but lie
in human nature. The tendency toward anxiety is contagious and
always lurking. But, thank God, so are forgiveness and sympathy
for others.
You put forward a number of events that caused an "emotional
public reaction," including the death of Mother Teresa, Princess
Diana's funeral, the trial of au pair Louise Woodward and the
Promise Keepers' gathering. However, you should have mentioned
the impressive demonstration of grief in Spain when Miguel Angel
Blanco, a young Basque politician, was kidnapped and shot by
E.T.A. terrorists. A whole people, millions of ordinary men and
women, thronged the streets with a common emotion, calling for
peace and believing Blanco should not have been brutally executed. FIDDLING WHILE THE EARTH BURNS
I was impressed by your excellent coverage of the Kyoto climate
change summit [Dec. 22]. It was another noble effort by TIME,
adding to its long list of environmentally concerned articles,
including coverage of the destruction of rain forests and the
threatened extinction of sharks. It was only in 1987 that TIME
declared "The Heat Is On" the Planet Earth. I was shocked that
the Kyoto Protocol merely discusses reducing the emission of
greenhouse gases to 1990 levels. It is a sobering reminder of
how much destruction can ensue in so little time. I wish more
people had taken your 1987 article seriously.
I have been living alone in a small one-room apartment for a
year and a half. By Japanese standards, my life-style is
regarded as quite poor because I have no TV, air conditioner,
stereo or vacuum cleaner. I even do my laundry by hand.
Nevertheless, I kind of enjoy it. If you do everything yourself,
you can derive great pleasure from feeling independent of
machines. What's more, my electricity bill is incredibly low.
And, of course, I contribute to conserving the environment.
People who live in developed countries should stop and think
about whether being surrounded by machines makes you happy.
A message to narrow-minded, short-sighted, vested-interest
fools: don't play politics with my planet. In the face of vast
amounts of evidence about global warming, these Neros would
fiddle while the earth literally burns. There may come a time
when common citizens seek justice for the suffering wrought by
environmental criminals. In the current atmosphere of rampant
greed, it may be difficult to imagine such a scenario. But
unless some form of enlightenment quickly spurs the leaders of
all nations to adopt measures even stricter than those agreed to
in Kyoto, the tribunals are inevitable, and there will be
nowhere for the guilty to hide. The earth is our mother and our
child. What greater joy could there be than seeing her smile
again?
You mentioned that the U.S. Senate will not ratify the treaty
signed at Kyoto because it will derail economic growth in the
U.S. Here in Canada there are also fears about an economic
slowdown and the impact of environmental regulations in
provinces such as Alberta, whose economy depends on the
performance of the oil and gas industry. Scientists say the
worst-case scenarios of global warming are more violent storms,
increased flooding and the spread of tropical diseases to other
parts of the world. In the past two years in Canada alone there
have been two major floods that may have been the result of
global warming patterns. Governments should stop using economic
slowdowns as an excuse to kill the Kyoto Protocol and take steps
to address the global warming issue. UPROAR IN ZIMBABWE
Re your article "grounds of contention," about moves by
Zimbabwe's President to seize farmland still owned by whites and
award it to blacks [Dec. 22]: I lived in Zimbabwe (formerly
Southern Rhodesia) in the 1960s and '70s. The tracts of bush
that Cecil Rhodes handed out in the 19th century to what you
call "freebooting imperialists" were far from fertile and
arable. They needed hard work and cash investment to turn them
into viable, productive properties. This present-day "land grab"
has seemingly noble political implications: handing back the
land in small plots to individual native farmers. If the
majority of it does go to small farmers, rather than to cronies
of the ruling party, will the new owners do more than mere
subsistence farming? Political correctness and the unjustified
feelings of colonial guilt have gone too far when they conspire
to destroy the basic economy of a country. OPEN PARKS IN UGANDA
In your Traveler's Advisory [Dec. 15] you stated that "Queen
Elizabeth (Ruwenzori) National Park and Semliki National Forest"
were closed indefinitely because of fighting. Queen Elizabeth
and Ruwenzori Mountain are two entirely separate national parks.
The Ruwenzori Mountains are in Ruwenzori Park and not in Queen
Elizabeth, which only begins at the base of the mountains. While
Ruwenzori Park is temporarily closed, Queen Elizabeth and
Semliki are open to visitors. SHORING UP ASIAN ECONOMIES
I would like to thank the International Monetary Fund backers
who are teaching the Thai government and investors how they can
properly run their businesses in the present climate of anxiety
over Asian economies [Dec. 22]. However, greedy people are still
destroying our country's economy: college students are spending
a lot on very expensive imported merchandise; millionaires and
exporters are depositing their money in foreign banks or keeping
their currency in dollars at home; government officers are
behaving as recklessly as before the crisis. Thailand and other
developing countries must learn to benefit from local wisdom.
They must not imitate what the developed countries do, because
that's not where we have know-how or expertise.
Hong Kong economist Simon Ogus was right on the money when he
said the Mexicans admitted they had "screwed up" in economic
affairs and quickly went to the IMF for help. They were humbled
and expressed a deep sense of gratitude and acceptance of the
consequences. However, in South Korea, all I hear is blame for
the IMF and the U.S., protests and talk about humiliation. Could
the Koreans' real problem be their attitude? The IMF showed up
in Korea with a giant-size mirror and told government officials
to take a long look at themselves. What they saw was pretty ugly. EXPLORERS OF THE UNKNOWN
Your special issue concerning the New Age of Discovery [Winter
1997] was an outstanding testimonial to the accomplishments of
white European and American males. Discovery, science,
academics, and thinking are not now, nor were they ever, the
exclusive territory of white males. There is, however, nothing
in your issue--from the introduction of contributors to the
articles, quotes and use of exclusive language--to suggest that
people of color or any woman may have taken part in discovery. I
am, to say the least, disappointed. This issue belongs in the
archives-along with other efforts that place women and
minorities in the background. Humanity will only truly discover
its potential when everyone is included.
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