Turn Off, Tune In, Log Out

The overblown coverage of Twitter in the media has grown tiresome [June 15]. Steven Johnson reports that Twitter had 17.1 million visitors internationally in April, but with the U.S. population at more than 300 million, the percentage of users that are American is pretty small. Furthermore, according to Nielsen, 60% of users drop out after a month. "Once just a fad"? Sounds like it's still a relatively small and concentrated fad. Members of the media never grasp that they are not representative of the country as a whole.
Barb Neff, SANTA MONICA, CALIF., U.S.

I predict that the twitterification of our society is going to lead to an exponential increase in early-onset Alzheimer's. We're increasing the rate of input to our brains and decreasing the time for processing information, and our brains are going to revolt. That, in turn, will lead to the next big industry: de-twitterification rooms where you can sit alone and unconnected, with nothing but a giant aquarium and a beanbag.
Marty Decker, BEND, ORE., U.S.

Johnson noted that at the education conference he attended, people were typing and reading tweets. This means that they were not engaged in the discussion at the table and that this tool was actually distracting from rather than enhancing the discussions at the forum. Aside from being a new venue to reinforce our sadly shortened attention spans, Twitter is a narcissist's dream of one-way communication. I, for one, will never care what Shaq is doing or thinking about anything. I don't care what anyone had for breakfast. I don't care what I had for breakfast.
Tom Granger, WILMINGTON, DEL., U.S.

Food, Direct
Though I do not eat much beef, I love Kate Pickert's article about cow-pooling [June 15]. I grew up on a farm in Arkansas and I think we will treat our environment better when we have a closer connection to where our food comes from. Knowing which meat comes from which part of the cow and how that cow was fattened (by grass or in the factory) will make us more balanced carnivores in the long run.
Sara Barton, ROCHESTER HILLS, MICH., U.S.

How to Talk to Iran
The picture of U.S. envoy Dennis Ross as presented in "The Final Countdown" is frightening [June 15]. Ross should not have been placed in charge of dealings with Iran. His close connection with the largely anti-Iran organization American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is well known. Despite Obama's seeming change in course on Iran, Ross continues to endanger the U.S. and the Middle East by pursuing the hostile neoconservative agenda on Iran active in the Bush Administration.
William Beeman, MINNEAPOLIS

The Iranian regime is obsessed with its nuclear ambitions. To them, a nuclear-armed Iran, not an affluent Iran, defines the country's influence both within and beyond the region. The same obsession has blinded them to the dangers. Iran will not implode as a result of sanctions. Iran will dare the world; it's a gamble they can live with. But will the world dare Iran?
Elvis Ahanonu, JOS, NIGERIA

You say Dennis Ross is not naive. I believe he is if he thinks Iranians can be persuaded to switch focus to the economy — and question why their regime is not spinning money and enriching the country — while their centrifuges are "spinning day and night" enriching uranium. If the North Koreans, who are far poorer, can live with this set of priorities out of a sense of national pride, why can't the Iranians?
Kangayam Rangaswamy, WAUNAKEE, WIS., U.S.

Islam in Bosnia
Just as Europeans were being invited to vote in the E.U. elections, Vivienne Walt in her article "Islamic Revival" reminded us of the civil war that this same E.U. allowed to happen in the 1990s [June 15]. It is not surprising that Muslim opportunists took advantage of the situation by supporting the development of their faith. It is important that we Europeans remember and reflect on what happened in the Balkans during the war whenever we go to the polls.
Alvin Panjeta, PARIS

In your article, you quote Bajro Ikanovic as saying, "If my Muslim brother is fighting in Pakistan, his enemy is my enemy." I just want to remind Ikanovic that the enemy he is talking about are the brave soldiers of the United States. The same "enemy" that 15 years ago saved him and his countrymen from genocide. U.S. soldiers were among those who gave their lives to safeguard his right to democracy, his right to practice his religion and his right to express the kind of nonsense he is now spouting.
Omer Gendler, HAIFA, ISRAEL

Getting to Know God
Robert Wright's article, "Decoding God's Changing Moods," on historical interactions among monotheistic religions is interesting [June 15]. But when he refers to "the most dangerous of intra-Abrahamic fault lines, the one between Muslims and Jews," he is wrong. The attacks in New York, London, Bali, Madrid and Mumbai were planned and perpetrated by Muslim fanatics, but they were not directed against Jews. True, Islamic fundamentalism would like to convert the Middle East conflict from a territorial dispute into a religious war. But ultimately its problem is not with Judaism; it is with the rest of the world.
Noru Tsalic, COVENTRY, ENGLAND

Your article highlights the obvious source of all religion: the human imagination. At its best, religion is applied for the greater good, to regulate society and provide simple rules that benefit the majority. At other times, and less happily, it is hijacked to further the greedy, political or capricious aims of the few. Understanding this basic principle — and that we all have a fundamental choice between tolerance and belligerence — would be a much needed step towards eliminating religious conflict, and with it, human suffering.
Rik Hofland, MUSCAT

As a young theological student, I wish to state that Wright's article misrepresents the character of God. Throughout all of Scripture, the consistent revelation is of an unchanging God. Israel may change: God does not. As the writer of Hebrews succinctly states: There is one God, one Saviour, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever." The acceptance of this fact is the door to hope.
Enoch Burke, CASTLEBAR, IRELAND

A Poor Choice
Re "Postcard: Utrecht" the problem in European elections is the choice of third-rate politicians on offer [June 8]. When the parties are unable to nominate any candidates whom I feel I can trust and respect, why should I go and vote for one? I'm Dutch but I live in Germany, and not one of the faces presented seemed to convey a personality with whom I could identify. If one of the suits actually did have a personality, they completely failed to get it across. Nevertheless I just went out and voted — for yet another grey face.
André Heeger, HAMBURG, GERMANY