Letters: Jul. 13, 1970

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Most of those who carry the torch of the moment are neither zealots nor political activists. They are people who are bored with routine lives. They would accept success within the system if they could be instant captains, but they cannot face the prospect of spending decades in preparing to do and doing the things which apparently are necessary to make a technical-industrial system fruitful. They are satisfied to consume rather than to produce. Their egos would suffer if they acknowledged this role, so they accept parts in passing causes.

My role in life involves listening to a very large number of those who do not get along within the structure of this civilization. It may be that one out of 50 has a long-range objective and is really trying to push society in a direction he thinks proper. The other 49 are goofing off for purely personal reasons. Whether they get caught in a left-wing or a right-wing movement is pure accident.

SAMUEL W. GARDINER

San Rafael, Calif.

Treatment of Massacres

Sir: Your short, offhand treatment of the Communist massacre of civilians at Thanh My [June 22] only confirms Vice President Agnew's assessment of this continent's press. Remember when the news media sensationalized unproven American atrocities at My Lai? But when the Communists wantonly murder women and children as part of their terrorism is reported as just another incident of the war.

And what of our idealistic, "concerned" youth? Do we see them demonstrating and protesting against the inhumanities perpetrated by the Viet Cong as they "liberate" Southeast Asia? No, sir, they are much too busy learning revolutionary rhetoric, burning tax-built and supported universities and finding fault with America's defense of democracy.

DENNIS H. MARTIN

Scarborough, Ont.

Raindrops Keep Falling

Sir: I am amazed at your shortsightedness concerning the environmental problem of electric power [June 22]. You state at only one point that the reason for the problem is the consumer's desiring unnecessary labor-saving luxuries.

Umbrellas don't stop rainstorms; neither will a conversion from aluminum to tin or pitiful stopgap measures like turning off unneeded lights eliminate the pollution resulting from power plants and the electricity shortage. Only a lessening of American "thing consciousness" and a change in our concept that less work means better living can free us from the encroaching oppression of an unbalanced ecology.

CAROLEE WILLIAMSON

Pelham Manor, N.Y

Wolfe at the Door

Sir: Tom Wolfe is notably apolitical and uninvolved [June 15]. He makes his career as a parasite on the body of his "Beautiful People." We could afford and be amused by Wolfe's flip, deft, 1960s-vintage "pop" sociology when he was writing about Ethel Scull's parties for Andy Warhol in the 1960s. But the 1970s are a critical time for our country, and many of the people whom Wolfe chased after in the 1960s have become committed in the 1970s. Wolfe is so out of touch that he doesn't realize this—or doesn't care, as long as he can make a buck.