Letters, Aug. 21, 1995

FACING THE AGE ISSUE

Age is a nonissue for Senator Bob Dole or any other healthy, older politician who would run for President [COVER STORY, July 31]. If a presidential candidate is in excellent health, as Dole appears to be, age should be no more relevant to voters than race or religion. Constantly raising unfounded concerns about a person’s age amounts to age discrimination. This year, for a change, let’s focus on the important policy issues and the candidate’s record. MARK D. PLANNING Alexandria, Virginia

You ask, “Is Dole too old for the Job?” Nonsense. He has the experience to give him wisdom and the vitality to give him oomph. He’s exactly what we need. America has changed in the past 60 years; in terms of medical progress there has been great success. Today the proper time to retire and the age at which Social Security benefits should become available is not 65 but 80. LOUIS R. WARD Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

The idea of Dole being president in his mid-70s is ridiculous. As we approach the 21st century, we need new ideas and younger, more progressive leaders. The symbolism of someone of Dole’s generation leading us into the new millennium is laughable. MICHAEL KING, age 15 St. Helens, Oregon

A president is chosen for his intelligence, experience and leadership. Being 72 years of age is not a handicap. NEAL GILBERT Mesa, Arizona

I am only 23, and I’m scared by where the U.S. is headed. It shouldn’t matter if Dole is 72 or 102. The important thing is whether he is qualified to run this country. He’s got to be better equipped than the joker we now have in the White House. Maybe Dole is just what we need: someone who is a little more mature and level-headed. Shouldn’t we give him a chance? Age is a state of mind. KAREN E. SEGRAVE Slidell, Louisiana

Dole is not too old to be president; he is too mean. He does not have the breadth of vision the job requires. He has spent his entire Senate career as an insider. And during that time he has gained a reputation for having the most vicious wit in the Senate. Old dogs can’t learn new tricks, the saying goes; old Senators can’t either. JOHN J. DUIGNAN Rosedale, New York

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s statement “To be great is to be misunderstood” was made for Dole. For that reason, it was nice to read your balanced report about him. After studying Dole for years, I’m ready to follow the man across the Pacific in a leaky rowboat. JAKE M. COLLINS Rochester, New Hampshire

The question is not “is Dole too old for the job?” but “Is Clinton too young for the job?” EDWARD F. HALPIN Park Ridge, Illinois

Too old? No way. It is because of your age, Senator Dole, that we want you for our next President. MARTHA JOHNSEN Holiday, Florida

CALLING THE ENEMY SATAN

Religion professor Elaine Pagels’ theories about the Western world’s practice of demonizing one’s opponent [IDEAS, July 31] are a patronizing slap in the face of those who don’t share her Eurocentric convictions about about what is real and what is not. Pagels’ concept, as laid out in the book The Origin of Satan, is fraught with an underlying conflict of interest, the Western tendency to dismiss as “superstition” that which the East holds to be “fact.” One certainly doesn’t need a seminary education to know that early Christianity had its roots in Asian spirituality, not European rationalism. And hasn’t it crossed the minds of Pagels’ admirers that perhaps those who, by their own account, believe in neither Christianity nor the origin of Satan might not be the best judges of the relationship between the two? MICHAEL BRUNER Princeton, New Jersey

Pagels’ struggle is not to convince us that Satan or the devil is us, but to convince us that there is no evil in the world. Faith is all we have, and once critics pull that apart and analyze it, dissect it and beat it down, what is left? ANITA WELLS Palatine, Illinois Via America Online

Pagels succeeds in doing the very thing she pillories; she demonizes the group she accuses of demonizing others. ANGIE NORELL Bloomington, Minnesota

THE END OF PREFERENCES?

I see affirmative action as an absolute necessity in need of some modification [AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, July 31]. When times get tough, the public looks for scapegoats, and racism escalates. Well, times are tough now and getting tougher. To abandon affirmative action would only feed the frustrations of those who are struggling to get ahead. To modify the existing affirmative-action system, we should give preference first on the basis of merit, and then consider race, ethnicity and gender. To accomplish this, we need to stop watering down our education system, which tries to allow everyone the opportunity to be equal. LIN FRASER Sacramento, California

I am a 14-year-old Filipino American who doesn’t believe in affirmative action. First of all, it’s unfair to white males in this country. Why should special treatment be given to someone because of race or sex? If we ever intend to put an end to racism, we must treat all races with equality. Then maybe we will achieve racial harmony. R.J. MILLARE Houston

As an African American, I have benefited from affirmative-action policies. Consequently, my children are now in a position to succeed without them. Will they have to work harder and be smarter to surmount the still present obstacles of racism? Yes. Are they up to the task? Without question. MARY MCGRIFF El Paso, Texas

Bravo to California Governor Pete Wilson for urging an end to racial preferences at the University of California’s nine campuses! Let’s hope this starts a trend toward ending the policy entirely. Affirmative action does nothing but promote racism and suppress a new government-determined minority: white heterosexual males. JOHN D. BERT Bridgewater, Pennsylvania AOL: JohnDBert

Institutions of higher learning were founded to educate brains. Racial and other quotas demean, dilute and deny appropriate access to these institutions for the mentally capable who lack the affirmative-action factors of sex, skin color and ethnic origin. JOHN F. KACZMAREK Amarillo, Texas

If America abolishes affirmative action, every bit of civil rights progress we have been able to achieve in the past 30 years will be undone. ROWAN J. SANDERS Irving, Texas

DISABILITY ACT COMPLIANCE

Your article about the Americans with Disabilities Act [SOCIETY, July 31] maintains that state and local officials are “often at a loss” to interpret the law. In fact, state and local governments have had to comply with the Rehabilitation Act since regulations for that law were adopted in 1977. Architectural guidelines for the Rehabilitation Act have existed for more than a decade, and most state and local governments that are in compliance with the Rehabilitation Act’s provisions have already met most of the ADA’s. Those governments that have not yet complied with either law will have to spend some money. However, state, county and municipal governments have somehow found the funds for golf courses, equestrian centers and sports stadiums, and the expenditures for architectural changes have never proved financially ruinous. EDWARD B. GREBENSTEIN, Chair Maryland Advisory Council for Individuals with Disabilities Baltimore, Maryland

The report on the ADA really got my blood boiling. Three years ago, the company I work for constructed a new office building, and it was required by the ADA to spend money for a wheelchair-access ramp, a wheelchair-accessible elevator and a handicapped-accessible rest room. After three years, none of these accommodations has been used by a “physically challenged” person; in fact, I have never seen a physically challenged person on our property. Yet my company has spent funds for a person who may or may not show up someday. The issue is not so simple as providing “an inexpensive wooden dowel” to allow a quadriplegic to perform work by tapping a computer keyboard. To imply this so obscures the fact that millions of dollars are going to waste for alterations and modifications that are never used while the immediate needs of millions of citizens are going unmet. It doesn’t make any sense at all. ANTHONY SORIANO Fair Haven, New Jersey

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

Your story on how House Republican leaders renegotiated a sweeping telecommunications-reform bill in closed-door sessions with corporate interests [TELECOMMUNICATIONS, July 31] quoted a lobbyist for the long-distance coalition as saying, “Nobody wants to negotiate. Something is fishy here.” You concluded that the renegotiated bill favored regional Bell companies over the long-distance industry. Something sure is fishy, and the source of the odor is not that one corporate interest won out over another but that a bill with such a profound impact on every American household was being negotiated among dueling corporate interests in the first place. Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey and their colleagues were installed in high office on a promise to empower everyday Americans and to change the way the government does business. But who is being empowered by the way they are writing telecommunications reform? BOB KERREY U.S. Senator, Nebraska Washington

THE HEAT IS ON

Shame on the citizens of Chicago and its suburbs for the way they coped with the heat wave and its resulting deaths [CITIES, July 31]. Wake up, Chicago! Why didn’t residents sitting in their air-conditioned homes help their neighbors? Maybe this is not just Chicago’s problem. Would this, could this occur in my city? Let’s all learn from the tragedy and consider who in our neighborhoods would benefit from some basic human compassion during a time of need. PAULA WELLS-HUTCHISON Elko, Nevada

REINING IN CHINA

Charles Krauthammer is living in the 18th century. In “Why We Must Contain China” [ESSAY, July 31], he talks about “renewing the U.S.-Japan alliance” to safeguard our Pacific security. What Pacific security? The Vietnam War was fought, in the Krauthammerian sense, to contain China. We still haven’t quite recovered from it, emotionally or financially. And now must we rush into the arms of our former enemies, Japan and Vietnam, as Krauthammer proposes, to contain ”the emerging giant of the 21st century”? I am all for pressuring China to liberalize its stance on human rights and other issues. But the methods suggested by Krauthammer, like a U.S. boycott of the Beijing U.N. World Conference on Women, smack of the petulance of a spoiled child. The next big wars will be fought in the world markets, not on the traditional battlefields. Those wars are raging right now, with Japan gaining on us day by day. Although I agree with Krauthammer’s goals, the methods he recommends are totally outdated. China must continue to liberalize. With its growing economy, it will be forced to satisfy the cravings of its people for more freedom. We Americans can no longer afford to play the role of world arbiter. The costs of the cold war have already ruined us. Let’s not start another round of armchair geopolitics. YVES LIEOU Longmeadow, Massachusetts

China must be properly contained in view of its relentless expansion attempts in the Asia-Pacific region, its flagrant disregard for human rights and its willingness to export missile technology to irresponsible nuclear wannabes. As Krauthammer points out, “Containment of such a bully must begin early in its career. That means building relations with China’s neighbors, starting with Vietnam.” It is China’s jittery neighbors that are most eager to halt the dangerous expansion of this waking giant. Let’s cease the failed policy of appeasing Beijing and re-establish full diplomatic relations with Taiwan, one of the most powerful containment incentives the U.S. has ever presented Beijing with. STEPHEN RABASCO Boston

Krauthammer is right to be alarmed by Chinese military expansion and regional troublemaking. However, he is putting the cart before the horse in proposing that the U.S. put aside its differences with other nations in the region–Vietnam, India, Japan and Russia–in order to “contain” China. Whatever threat China’s military poses is felt by its neighbors first. America and the rest of the world are distant targets. It makes more sense for the U.S. government to push for a resolution of our economic and political problems with China’s neighbors rather than to expect those countries to take the lead in forming a coalition against a regime that, given time, is likely to fall on its own. DOUG BELL San Diego

THE WATER’S FINE

Like politicians, movie critics should have limited terms. Over time they become jaded, stupid and self-serving. Remember, film critics actually liked that piece of sewage Pulp Fiction. I saw the movie Waterworld [SHOW BUSINESS, July 31], and it was great fun! The hero was intelligent, the characters interesting and the special effects dazzling. There was no filthy language and no overt sex, and good triumphed over evil. To all intelligent people, I say ignore Siskel and Ebert and their ilk, including TIME’s reviewers. If you like to leave a theater smiling, I can highly recommend seeing Waterworld. LANORE ROBERTSON Tigard, Oregon

BOSNIA’S FATE

I believe the West, led by the U.S., does have the means and weaponry to stop Serb atrocities in the “safe areas” without losing much human life [BOSNIA, July 31]. But it does not want to do so because that would ultimately lead to the creation of a Muslim state. The West’s opposition to lifting the arms embargo on Bosnia is another proof of the hidden motives of Western powers. FAIYAZ AHMED Chetpet, India

CHALLENGES TO FREEDOM IN BURMA

I’m more than happy about the release of Burma’s chief dissident, Aung San Suu Kyi, after six years of house arrest [BURMA, July 24]. She is the only person who can bring peace to Burma. With her humanitarianism, intellect and Buddhist gentleness, she brings a hitherto unseen sophistication to the politics of her country. The people of Burma deserve a better future. I only hope they will have the patience that will be needed for change. LINDA SCHWARTZ Adliswil, Germany

Aung San Suu Kyi undoubtedly was Burma’s most prominent political prisoner, but there are thousands more being held in jails there. No Burmese is exempt from being dragooned into acting as porter for soldiers, and for those in the rural and ethnic areas it has become a way of life. The release of Suu Kyi is a hopeful step in the political liberalization of Burma. In her the generals who rule the country have the best chance of coming to peace with the Burmese people. SAMUEL LIN Hong Kong

FOLLOWING IN DAD’S FOOTSTEPS

Fear not, G fans. reports of Godzilla’s death [PEOPLE, July 31] are at least somewhat exaggerated. While it is true that after 22 starring roles the Big Guy may bite the dust in his latest flick, the word on Monster Island is that his lookalike offspring (introduced in 1993’s Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla) is being groomed to resume the series in just a couple of years. Junior G. need only finish his growth spurt, 20 more meters and 20,000 tons, and he’ll soon be following in his dad’s crater-like footsteps. JOHN DANIEL LEES, Founder Godzilla Society of North America Steinbach, Manitoba

WHAT’S THE STORY IN NIGERIA?

Re Jack E. White’s article “when Blacks Persecute Blacks” [DIVIDING LINE, Aug. 7]: I agree with White that Nigeria is facing a serious political crisis. This is the sad truth. But it is bothersome that most of the news stories about Nigeria have been negative. There should be coverage of the good things going on–the construction of bridges, highways, schools and the like. Why do the media grossly neglect these aspects of Nigeria? One can always find the bad and the ugly in any country, but there is also the good. Nigeria is no exception. CHARLES L.A. MASSAQUOI Mullsjo, Sweden

I commend White for bringing the monstrous regime in Nigeria into the public eye. Nigeria is going through the worst time in its history. Will strongman Sabi Abacha become another Idi Amin? The answer is yes, if he is allowed to continue in power. The evil called Abacha will eventually go, but the fear is that there are too few good men among Nigeria’s political elite. They have turned themselves into a low-priced commodity that can be bought at cut rates. ADEKUNLE AJISEBUTU Fredericton, New Brunswick