Salon | Letters to the editor

Correction
In the June 12 Media Circus about Steven Brill's new magazine, Brill's Content, it was stated that Content staffers were "caught flooding Content's new Web site with ... phony letters." This statement, which was based on a story in the New York Post, was inaccurate: The posts on AOL were not letters but discussion starters. Salon failed to identify the source of the allegation and to independently verify it. We regret the error, which we have corrected.

_______________ "A WEAPON SO POWERFUL, IT WILL DESTROY THE WORLD" BY SARITA SARVATE (05/15/98)

In his letter, Husain Naqvi asks the question: "What sort of warped intellectual dynamic produces a weapon of mass destruction?" My answer is: "The same kind of warped intellectuals as Robert Oppenheimer and Enrico Fermi working in the same kind of warped dynamic that exists in American academic institutions."
If Mr. Naqvi had bothered to read my article, he would have noted that I am no lover of nuclear weapons. In fact, I explicitly state, "The world should not only cease any development of new atomic weapons, I believe, but should rid itself of its existing stockpiles." In the concluding paragraph, I also said, "I am hopeful that India's refusal to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty on the grounds that it be modified to include a clause requiring the superpowers to reduce their arsenals will now receive due attention."
The point of my column was not to defend the Indian nuclear tests but to explain the historical, cultural and geopolitical context for them. To me, it is not an argument between India and Pakistan, but an argument between the first world and the third. I do not believe that the West can get away with its hypocrisy in amassing great amounts of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons while telling the underdogs of the world not to possess any.
For the record, I have never been a supporter of the BJP, nor have I ever had any connection with any political party in India. In fact, I grew up in an atheistic family, raised by a father who worshipped Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru and despised any kind of religious fanaticism.
But for those Pakistanis who attack the BJP, I would like to pose the question: "What kind of a secular government can Pakistan boast of? How many Hindus live in Pakistan and with what sort of freedom?"
I agree with Naqvi that "technology can be put to better use than creating weapons of mass destruction." But I would like America and the West to set an example by doing so. After all, they are the ones who started the arms race and have kept it fueled for a half century by supplying weapons to despots all over the world.
-- Sarita Sarvate
To a point, I agree with Naqvi. The subcontinent is poor, can't afford and shouldn't have nuclear weapons. However, the trashing of India and its government by Naqvi, under the pretext of protesting the bomb, is perhaps a bit harsh. Particularly, the comments on BJP's attitudes toward minorities.
BJP, on coming to power, has pretty much diluted all its jingoism. The bomb is an exception. If Naqvi were to read the comments from various Indian authorities before and after the bomb, he would realize that India has consciously tried to move away from being clubbed with Pakistan on each and every issue. As it should. A secular republic should not be compared with a fundamentalist country. There is increasing awareness in India that Pakistan is no security threat and is more of an irritant that will keep meddling in Kashmir and elsewhere. India is more concerned with the tacit China-Pakistan nexus that makes all of South Asia a dangerous area. Hence the bomb.
Further, Naqvi's comments on India and fundamentalism are unbecoming, particularly from a Pakistani. He seems to have forgotten the Christian and Hindu repression in Pakistan -- recall the Christian bishop who shot himself last month to protest the death sentence for a Christian who supported Salman Rushdie? Death sentence for a verbal comment? What age are we in? Compare this to India, where Christians are well integrated and prosperous and Muslims are allowed to have their own laws. Yes, there are problems, but the state does not discriminate against minorities. And, about India being unfriendly to the rest of South Asia, the last I recall, India helped Bangladesh gain independence from Pakistan's misrule.
In summary, it is one thing to protest the nuclear blasts. I will join Naqvi there. However, using that to trash India is not done.
-- S. Jayachandran
_______________ PROPHET OF THE PLAGUE BY TERRY DIGGS (06/11/98)

Your brilliant article on Charlton Heston and the NRA only brings to mind a theory I've had about actors: There should be some type of regulation in Hollywood limiting the number of times that actors play religious or major historical figures. They tend to take themselves way too seriously when they do this too often.
Old Chuck is a classic case in point. Whether it's his pronouncements on gun-control issues, a press release on the last baseball strike (he actually did that), his eulogizing of a deceased movie star or that beer commercial that he did, he gives the impression that everything he says was first carved into stone tablets and brought down from a mountain.
By the way, "The Omega Man" wasn't the only Heston film of that era that got into the issues that you discussed. Let us not also forget "Soylent Green," "Planet of the Apes" and "Beneath the Planet of the Apes." In the latter film, Chuckie actually blew up the whole planet at the end to stop what was happening!
-- Joe Raskin

_______________ MONEY FOR NOTHING BY SCOTT ROSENBERG (06/12/98)

I haven't read the book or anything else by Wolff, but I did enjoy your review.
Further, I can personally attest that people do read on the Net, once they find a readable site or even just some readable material on it. I'm a 54-year-old paraplegic who discovered the Internet a scant six months ago.
I've always searched for and enjoyed anything readable on the Net and have spent at least 30 hours reading Salon articles and reviews in just the last five days.
With the exception of some of the more opinion-ridden postfeminist contributions, I've found everything on the site "readable."
-- Steven Schreck

_______________ CONTENT'S STAR SHORTAGE BY HARRY JAFFE (06/12/98)

Harry Jaffe has a lot of egg on his face today. Brill's Content hit a home run in its first issue, and it looks like "the pitbull has teeth."
Oh, by the way, this is not a planted letter.
-- George Fisher
Prague, Czech Republic

_______________ SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME BY JANIS COOKE NEWMAN (06/08/98)

Thank you for publishing Janice Cooke Newman's article on parenting an orphan Russian boy. I found the article interesting and touching. It is sometimes easy as parents to think that we control the development of our children, but Newman reminds us of the resiliency of the human organism and spirit. May we see some more by this author?
-- Martin Ganapoler
San Francisco
SALON | June 16, 1998

R E C E N T L Y+| PROPHET OF THE PLAGUE BY TERRY DIGGS

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	Correction In the June 12 Media Circus about Steven Brill's new magazine, Brill's Content, it was stated that Content staffers were "caught flooding Content's new Web site with ... phony letters." This statement, which was based on a story in the New York Post, was inaccurate: The posts on AOL were not letters but discussion starters. Salon failed to identify the source of the allegation and to independently verify it. We regret the error, which we have corrected.
_______________ "A WEAPON SO POWERFUL, IT WILL DESTROY THE WORLD" BY SARITA SARVATE (05/15/98)
	In his letter, Husain Naqvi asks the question: "What sort of warped intellectual dynamic produces a weapon of mass destruction?" My answer is: "The same kind of warped intellectuals as Robert Oppenheimer and Enrico Fermi working in the same kind of warped dynamic that exists in American academic institutions." If Mr. Naqvi had bothered to read my article, he would have noted that I am no lover of nuclear weapons. In fact, I explicitly state, "The world should not only cease any development of new atomic weapons, I believe, but should rid itself of its existing stockpiles." In the concluding paragraph, I also said, "I am hopeful that India's refusal to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty on the grounds that it be modified to include a clause requiring the superpowers to reduce their arsenals will now receive due attention." The point of my column was not to defend the Indian nuclear tests but to explain the historical, cultural and geopolitical context for them. To me, it is not an argument between India and Pakistan, but an argument between the first world and the third. I do not believe that the West can get away with its hypocrisy in amassing great amounts of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons while telling the underdogs of the world not to possess any. For the record, I have never been a supporter of the BJP, nor have I ever had any connection with any political party in India. In fact, I grew up in an atheistic family, raised by a father who worshipped Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru and despised any kind of religious fanaticism. But for those Pakistanis who attack the BJP, I would like to pose the question: "What kind of a secular government can Pakistan boast of? How many Hindus live in Pakistan and with what sort of freedom?" I agree with Naqvi that "technology can be put to better use than creating weapons of mass destruction." But I would like America and the West to set an example by doing so. After all, they are the ones who started the arms race and have kept it fueled for a half century by supplying weapons to despots all over the world. -- Sarita Sarvate To a point, I agree with Naqvi. The subcontinent is poor, can't afford and shouldn't have nuclear weapons. However, the trashing of India and its government by Naqvi, under the pretext of protesting the bomb, is perhaps a bit harsh. Particularly, the comments on BJP's attitudes toward minorities. BJP, on coming to power, has pretty much diluted all its jingoism. The bomb is an exception. If Naqvi were to read the comments from various Indian authorities before and after the bomb, he would realize that India has consciously tried to move away from being clubbed with Pakistan on each and every issue. As it should. A secular republic should not be compared with a fundamentalist country. There is increasing awareness in India that Pakistan is no security threat and is more of an irritant that will keep meddling in Kashmir and elsewhere. India is more concerned with the tacit China-Pakistan nexus that makes all of South Asia a dangerous area. Hence the bomb. Further, Naqvi's comments on India and fundamentalism are unbecoming, particularly from a Pakistani. He seems to have forgotten the Christian and Hindu repression in Pakistan -- recall the Christian bishop who shot himself last month to protest the death sentence for a Christian who supported Salman Rushdie? Death sentence for a verbal comment? What age are we in? Compare this to India, where Christians are well integrated and prosperous and Muslims are allowed to have their own laws. Yes, there are problems, but the state does not discriminate against minorities. And, about India being unfriendly to the rest of South Asia, the last I recall, India helped Bangladesh gain independence from Pakistan's misrule. In summary, it is one thing to protest the nuclear blasts. I will join Naqvi there. However, using that to trash India is not done. -- S. Jayachandran
_______________ PROPHET OF THE PLAGUE BY TERRY DIGGS (06/11/98)
	Your brilliant article on Charlton Heston and the NRA only brings to mind a theory I've had about actors: There should be some type of regulation in Hollywood limiting the number of times that actors play religious or major historical figures. They tend to take themselves way too seriously when they do this too often. Old Chuck is a classic case in point. Whether it's his pronouncements on gun-control issues, a press release on the last baseball strike (he actually did that), his eulogizing of a deceased movie star or that beer commercial that he did, he gives the impression that everything he says was first carved into stone tablets and brought down from a mountain. By the way, "The Omega Man" wasn't the only Heston film of that era that got into the issues that you discussed. Let us not also forget "Soylent Green," "Planet of the Apes" and "Beneath the Planet of the Apes." In the latter film, Chuckie actually blew up the whole planet at the end to stop what was happening! -- Joe Raskin
_______________ MONEY FOR NOTHING BY SCOTT ROSENBERG (06/12/98)
	I haven't read the book or anything else by Wolff, but I did enjoy your review. Further, I can personally attest that people do read on the Net, once they find a readable site or even just some readable material on it. I'm a 54-year-old paraplegic who discovered the Internet a scant six months ago. I've always searched for and enjoyed anything readable on the Net and have spent at least 30 hours reading Salon articles and reviews in just the last five days. With the exception of some of the more opinion-ridden postfeminist contributions, I've found everything on the site "readable." -- Steven Schreck
_______________ CONTENT'S STAR SHORTAGE BY HARRY JAFFE (06/12/98)
	Harry Jaffe has a lot of egg on his face today. Brill's Content hit a home run in its first issue, and it looks like "the pitbull has teeth." Oh, by the way, this is not a planted letter. -- George Fisher Prague, Czech Republic
_______________ SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME BY JANIS COOKE NEWMAN (06/08/98)
	Thank you for publishing Janice Cooke Newman's article on parenting an orphan Russian boy. I found the article interesting and touching. It is sometimes easy as parents to think that we control the development of our children, but Newman reminds us of the resiliency of the human organism and spirit. May we see some more by this author? -- Martin Ganapoler San Francisco SALON \| June 16, 1998