Letters To The Editor
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Letter to the editor
July 2003:Due to your statements I will no longer be subscribing to your e-zine. I do care for the environment and the imapcts man has on it. I am sorry you feel that you must include, "the US invasion of Iraq lives up to its Horror Show billing," with us and the other Anti-war ideals with no basis of the reason for the war; Saddam who open burns his oil supplies and releases unknown chemicals into the air is alot better than the US? No country is perfect but some have to take an agressive role to defend issues of world signifigance in relation to human rights and ECOLOGY. While holding up your protest signs remember how many trees it [sic] took to make it.....My opinion of the war is different from yours an I do not wish to debate that so, as we "agree to disagree", I wish to no longer recieve any mailings from you. Personal opinion has no basis in Journalism and should relate interpretations of fact [sic], not opinions. You wrote....
"DEAR SUBSCRIBER,
Even as the US invasion of Iraq lives up to its Horror Show billing, those who want peace, justice and a better planet for all must remain focused on the progressive work to which they have dedicated their lives. ECOTECTURE's mission is to "empower our readers to solve environmental problems." Although the immediate environmental problem confronting the entire biosphere is war-and everyone should be doing what he or she can to end this war-solutions to the root causes of war must also be advanced."
As I am sending this to you I am sending copies to my fellow students who recieve your magazine urging them to unsubscribe
Andrew P., student University of Houston College of Architecture
. . .
Dear Mr. P.,
I'm sorry that you do not feel that further dialogue on the issue of America's policies could be fruitful. I hope it is clear that I do not think that Saddham Hussein has had anything but a negative impact on human rights and the environment. This is true of about half the world's "leaders." Should we invade every country with different form of government?
I am surprised that you do not see a connection between the gas-guzzling lifestyle that America officially promotes—Congress, for example, has recently voted to do away with most mileage restrictions for vehicles and the Bush Administration is suing the State of California to force it to remove its air pollution standards—and our constant involvement in the Middle Eastern oil states. You may not realize the US brought Hussein to power, Rumsfeld aided and abetted him until a few years ago and Dick Cheney did millions of dollars worth of business with him until about three years ago.
Concerning journalism, there is no rule that one has to report only "facts." It is a fact that Saddham Hussein was a brutal dictator. It is also a fact that almost all of the Iraqis, combatant and non-combatant, that America killed during this war had nothing to do with Hussein's political machinery and, if US sources are to be believed, were so brainwashed that they had no idea that they were part of an evil regime. They were merely acting under orders, defending their homeland or trying to stay out of the way. They were killed because they were victims of Saddham Hussein. (One of the more famous quotes from the Vietnamese war, which you may be to young to have heard, was from an American combatant who explained to his superiors that "we had to destroy the village in order to protect it from Communists."
One could report either set of "facts" about Iraq, and a great many more for that matter. As the Publisher and Editor of my own journal, I had to decide whether to include politics or just report on issues of ecological design. I do not and cannot see that the two are unrelated. I knew that my stance, the expression of which is limited, for the most part, to my editorial page, would cost me some readers. I decided to take that risk so I could follow my conscience.
Thank you for writing. I hope you find sources of information about ecological design that are sufficiently free of direct political statements or associated, more subtle, political implications for you to be able to make use of their information. Whatever you do, please keep working to improve the environment.
Philip S. Wenz, Editor/Publisher
ECOTECTURE®: The Online Journal of Ecological Design
www.ecotecture.com