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Letters from the July-August 2004 issue

The devil you know Perhaps it would have been more interesting for Clive Thompson to inquire why so many lefties reject the scientific point of view (“Science Fiction,” May/June), rather than tell us we’re morons who can’t wrap our weak little minds around a mathematical theorem.On the subject of vaccinations, which is what really seems to get Thompson in a knot, just because vaccines do some good doesn’t mean they don’t also do some harm. And the fact that the specific harms have not been proven does not mean they don’t exist. Carole Leslie Victoria, British Columbia

Full of beans Yay This Magazine for touching on the fair trade coffee issue (“The grinds, they are a changin’, May/June). However, I found the information about Starbucks coffee to be misleading. Starbucks’ commitment to fair trade products is less extensive than their noisy campaign of posters and pamphlets may suggest. They have only one fair trade coffee blend, brewed in-store once a month. While this is a step forward, it’s not enough.

We must demand more than just fair trade—we must also demand coffee that is shade grown, which protects the natural habitats of coffee-growing regions; and organic, which protects farmers and citizens of these regions from pesticide-related illness. Rebecca Bothwell Ottawa, Ontario

Ideological implosion Now that I know about Joseph Heath’s understanding of what is wrong with the film version of The Corporation (“Ideological indecision,” May/June), and Andrew Potter’s understanding of what is wrong with the book, I look forward to reading an account of their understanding of the solutions to this mess. Brydon Gombay Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec

In his review of the film The Corporation (“Ideological Indecision,” May/June) Joseph Heath commits the fallacy of false alternatives, which is surprising for a philosopher. The alternative to a private-sector economy is not necessarily a publicly owned one. Nor is it the case that private ownership cannot be the problem if public ownership is not the solution. Consequently, there is no reason for Heath to expect the film to come to such a definite conclusion. The pursuit of private profit may provide innovation and efficiency. It may not be the root of all evil, however, in order to prevent it from becoming so, the economic libertarianism of Milton Friedman et al must be restrained by enforceable regulations rather than by expropriation or nationalization.

That would seem a reasonable interpretation of the film’s message and it leaves the filmmakers neither “grasping at straws” nor “engaging in wishful thinking.” Theo Meijer Sidney, British Columbia

I suppose dissing Stevie Cameron (“The unravelling of Stevie Cameron,” May/June) and The Corporation—documentary and book—is an example of This Magazine’s “fair and balanced” reporting, and means I don’t need to read the National Post to find out what the right is thinking. However, regarding The Corporation, the conclusion by Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter that the left thinks “profit is evil” is unfounded and misleading. The realistic fear of many people is that big business will use any means to achieve its goal of ever-increasing profits. Bob Forsey St. John’s, Newfoundland

Choose your own belief system Your article “I want to believe” (May/June) describes several religious activist groups that eschew some of their religions’ basic tenets in favour of more progressive stances. While I prefer most of the groups’ ideological positions to those of their churches, I admit I find it hard to respect such movements. Picking and choosing which rules to follow isn’t living by a code—it’s just doing whatever the hell you want. Matthew Oleynik Toronto, Ontario

Much appreciated Thank you for the wonderful story on our little concept store in your March/April issue (“Enter the Dadabase”). Keep up the amazing work you do concerning politics and culture. Ignacio Corral and Mo Salemy Vancouver, British Columbia

Counter attack I have just picked up the March/April issue of This Magazine, to which I have subscribed since it was “About Schools.” What a shock and disappointment to read the extremely one-sided article on Sarajevo (“Taking sides”). Why would This Magazine give a forum to such a biased point of view? Have you somehow determined that the Muslims were on the left and the Serbs on the right? Is it because of General MacKenzie’s political affiliation that his take on the situation is condemned? Gordana Knezevic’s article omitted many essential facts. The Izetbegovic government in Sarajevo, which her article generally supported, was essentially Muslim and received considerable military support from Islamic groups (now labelled terrorists) from outside Bosnia. Osama Bin Laden had visited Sarajevo. At least one of the massacres in Sarajevo was staged to discredit the Serbs, according to UN observers. In fact, it was Izetbegovic that turned down, with US encouragement, an early plan that might have avoided war, and which withdrew the army from Srebrenica after its fighters had terrorized the surrounding Serb villages. Not a word of any of this in Knezevic’s very partisan attack on General MacKenzie and the UN. R. George Johnson St-Michel-de-Bellechasse, Quebec

Correction A table in our January/February issue reported the US incarceration rate to be 2,298 per 100,000 residents, higher than the rate at which the Soviet Union sent people to the gulags. However, the figure refers not strictly to the incarceration rate in the United States, but rather to the rate at which people were under the control of the criminal justice system (in prison or in jail, as well as on parole or on probation). In 2000, 702 people per 100,000 residents were in prison or jail in the United States, compared with 1,423 sent to the gulags in 1950. In some parts of the United States, however, the rate is much higher.