need some constructive criticism

[Francesca]

I am pasting below a letter i want to email my local papers. Last week I submitted a letter written in the early morning hours and sent it off without giving it much thought, in fact I forgot about till I read our local papers this week and frankly I was embarrassed at the letter and wish I had reread it a few times........

Could you please tear my letter apart for me so I can improve the parts that need improving and let me know if I used any shameful grammar (so embarrassing..). In advance may I say I love you people and have gotten so much good Tech support for my computer problems here and all sorts of other good advice and am very grateful.



TO the editor

This letter was inspired by a number of editorials I read in the October 14th editions of the local papers. In particular a letter written by Nancy Lefko.

Nancy stated “what happened in Beslan Russia could happen in any US town..” I would like to remind your readers that the school children slain in Russia where killed by Chechen rebels not by Al-Qaeda . The logic that what happened in Russia should lead us to question if our children in Peterborough NH could be next is not only outrageous but comical. There is genocide in Sudan and tsunami’s in Asia should we worry about that as well??? The further assertion that weakness invites terrorism is equally ridiculous If that where in fact the case the United States would be the last target on Earth. Regardless of whether we have a Democrat or Republican in office our country is without question one of the largest military powers in the world. Under Nancy’s logic of weakness attracting terrorism we would see the US as the last target of terrorists not the primary.

Nancy is merely regurgitating one of the many senseless White House talking points that attempt to scare our citizens into beliefs and logic that should only be credible in a demographic that still believes in the tooth fairy. There is no question that terrorism is a threat and actually has been years before September 11th. So many of us were sheltered in the luxury of ignorance pre 2001 that we are still suffering colossal misunderstandings about the motives and the means of these organizations.

One frequently repeated justification for keeping Bush in office is the ludicrous claim that Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda are hoping for a Kerry win. Has everyone forgotten that the Bush administration gave up on Bin Laden to go after Hussein who had nothing to do with 9/11. Did you forget that Bush after stating “Dead or alive” in reference to Bin Laden later stated at a press conference in march 2002 “I am truly not that concerned about him”. Hmm if I was bin laden I would be pulling for a bush victory.

The reality is Bush is using the fear of the many Americans who remain in the dark about world outside of the US to support wars driven by agenda’s that having nothing to do with protecting us from terrorists. We will continue to be at war with the wrong people as long as gullible Americans remain mentally paralyzed and unable to question the fairy tales that our government is spinning.

And we will not be safer from terrorism but rather more at risk while this country postures and positions in the middle east (looking for WMD’s… or wait now it’s toppling bad guys…ok now it spreading freedom). While I realized the hypocrisy is beyond the scope of some intellects here in the US, for people living in the Middle East who are watching this charade it’s a lot more black and white. Bush say’s he’s captured 75% of Al-Qaeda, in the meantime while we colonize certain key strategic locations (economically and militarily) the number of people joining Al-Qaeda is growing exponentially). I cannot imagine why.

I cant help but wonder if there is not some ethnocentrism at work in the minds of people like Nancy. An occidental culture is always right you may believe, is always good, knows better, knows what’s best. Many like Bush’s simplistic explanation of Foreign policy because it reinforces the typical American xenophobia and distrust of the third world and their poverty. During the peak of colonization in the countries now known as the third world one of the most widely held justifications for enslaving other countries/territories was the belief that their people were lazy and immoral. The proof of this was in their lack of economic prosperity which has become the current Republican Party’s measuring stick for “bad” and “good” people.
Rebuplicans use this logic for convincing us that social services are not deserved. Poor people are lazy and by extension immoral. They don’t deserve the help of the hardworking. There is a great similarity between the deliberate under development of the third world and the widening gap between the rich and the poor in this country. To deny aid to those suffering economically telling ourselves that they are to blame for their situation is in my opinion not only immoral but shows a complete disregard for history and socio economic theory.
The Republican party is becoming more and more exclusive and hateful towards the people it allegedly represents. If you are not making over $200,000.00 a year, if you are elderly, female, in the military or a veteran, non white, gay, uninsured, unemployed or disabled you should not be voting to keep this administration. If you care about the future of our environment which is already impacting your health, if you care about your civil rights, if you care about the future of your social security, if you are alarmed at the record national deficit, if you care about our dwindling respect in the world community you should not be voting to keep this administration.