Voyeur TV: We Like to Watch
"Watching other people give up their privacy makes it easier to give up our own. Big Brother is watching, and we are him." ALAN M. KAPLAN Ridgewood, N.J.
There's nothing new or mysterious about voyeurism. Television programmers have just rediscovered normal human behavior [TELEVISION, June 26]. From the beginning of time, people have enjoyed watching others. The thrill we get from seeing Survivor is the same thrill that Jimmy Stewart got from secretly observing his neighbors in Rear Window and that parkgoers get from watching lovers neck on a bench. SHERRI CADEAUX Holland, Mich.
You should have addressed the alternatives to voyeur TV. If people want to see the real world, all they need to do is go outside and walk, run, ride a bike or watch a sunset. Activity is its own reward. VTV is a joke. Turn off your voyeur-TV shows and get a life in the real world. BILL SMART Santa Barbara, Calif.
Athenians of the 5th century B.C. attended plays by Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles. Londoners in Elizabethan England enjoyed the plays of Shakespeare. Americans in the 21st century watch Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Survivor. Does anyone else find this disturbing and frightening? (THE REV.) FRANK L. HOSS Bourbonnais, Ill.
You left one thing out. We are a generation that grew up with Gilligan's Island. Survivor is like an extended version of Gilligan's Island. Who is Ginger? Who is the Skipper? Who is Mary Ann? CATHY SMALL Olivenhain, Calif.
The Hippest King
When Morocco's new king, Mohammed VI [WORLD, June 26], was asked if he was satisfied with U.S. economic support, he answered, "Absolutely not." Well, Mo, first you could fly coach, then buy a Saturn instead of driving that customized Mercedes, and shop at the Men's Wearhouse instead of a custom tailor. This is what hardworking Americans do to save money. Petty despots like the King have ripped off the American taxpayer long enough. It's time we told our politicians to stop squandering our tax dollars on excessive foreign aid to pathetic little men. The arrogance! VIN SAVINO Lawrence, N.Y.
That Sunday in the Park
Let's not allow the New York City police to get away with blaming their failure to act in the Sunday assaults on women in Central Park on concerns about rogue policing [NATION, June 26]. There is no cause-and-effect relationship between the recent high-profile incidents of excessive police force and the cops' failure to respond to the besieged women's pleas for help. This behavior is the result of an insensitive, poorly trained police force. And why do New York City police officers think an appropriate response to criticism about how they do their job is just to stop doing it? ADRIENNE ONOFRI New York City
People who carry weapons generally use them only in self-defense. Why don't more women carry guns? One shot could have stopped the Central Park idiocy and done the rest of us a favor. DAVID DONEY Hoffman Estates, Ill.
Nearly 50 women were stripped and groped in the park. Such acts remind women where we stand today--second-class citizens living in a patriarchal society, our bodies public property to be fondled against our will by strangers. BRIE WEISMAN Bethel, Maine
Dread of the High Board