First, let me say that I found your letter obnoxious and insulting.
It's really obnoxious to send links like you did to an association of Christian
scientists not mentioning that they were graphic depictions of women being raped
and tortured. A warning for those who wish to avoid viewing such images would
have been in order. And, being the skeptical type, I wonder if these photos are
even real since torturers and thugs rarely gather evidence against themselves and
virtually all of the links on this guy's web page come up with a "File Not Found"
error. In fact all this site seems to have are graphic photos, I found no text
whatsoever. I don't deny that Indonesia has committed terrible atrocities in
East Timor over the years, but I fail to see how referring us to pictures of
women being raped and tortured (and who knows where or when or under what
circumstances these photos were taken because it doesn't tell us) helps in any way,
shape or form.
I know things are bad elsewhere in the world. There are a great many evils
being perpetrated by man. But that doesn't mean we should ignore small problems
as well. I subscribe to the view that societies crumble precisely when small
problems are seen as "no big deal" ("so what if Clinton lied") and standards are
lowered over time such that atrocities become "no big deal" ("so what if 8&1/2
month old babies are pulled down the vaginal canal and stabbed in the back of
the head with sissors and their brains sucked out to decompress their skulls
so they can be aborted"). I see that happening in this country.
Finally, I found your letter insulting because it belittled me and an issue
that many people are legitimately upset about. I'm not going to ignore small
problems in society just because there are big ones. I also fight for larger,
more important, issues as well. Quite frankly, I'm more concerned about abortion
than about wartime atrocities in southeast Asia. Why? Because I can't do a damn
thing about East Timor other than vote my conscience and elect public officials
who support my moral views (which Clinton and most of the Congress most definately
do NOT). I wish the U.S. would take a stronger stand against dictators around
the world but we don't. I can, however, do some constructive things in my own
backyard to fight against abortion.
It's the same with spam. I think that's an issue people can do something
about and I believe it's more than just a annoyance. If you're interested in
learning why spam is bad, check out the CAUCE web site at http://www.cauce.org/.
Quite frankly, I think your tactic in sending that obnoxious post will have the
opposite effect desired. It will turn people's opinion against you and not for
the issue you claim to care about.
- Steve.
-- Steven H. Schimmrich Physical Sciences Department schimmri@kutztown.edu (office) Kutztown University schimmrich@earthlink.net (home) 217 Grim Science Building 610-683-4437, 610-683-1352 (fax) Kutztown, Pennsylvania 19530 http://home.earthlink.net/~schimmrich/