U.S. Relations With China

I confess that your editorial caught me on the wrong foot. I presumed that the very promising lead: “ . . . People’s minds . . . do not linger long on unpleasant situations, no matter how significant. Some of the world’s most purposeful authoritarian governments have come to count on that fact of life. . . . Their theory is: Out of sight, out of mind . . . “ was a prelude to a piece denouncing our continued quiet support of the fascist government of El Salvador.

Imagine, then, my disappointment at seeing the editorial instead go on to condemn the government of the People’s Republic of China for the massacres in Tian An Men Square. Although that was, our course, an act of barbarity which every civilized person would deplore, it was at the same time an action which the U.S. government and population were more or less powerless to avert.

Contrast that with the degree of control we have over the policies and actions of the U.S.-supported Salvadoran government (which we fund to the tune of over 1 million taxpayer dollars each day). Surely no rational person would conclude that the barbarous actions of the Alfredo Cristiani regime would continue for another day in the absence of at least tacit, if not outright, U.S. support. The deaths of tens of thousands of Salvadorans over the last decade can be laid directly at our doorstep.

The dictates of common sense surely demand that we concentrate our outrage on matters where we might be able to save lives through changes in our own policies, rather than uselessly (and often self-righteously) denouncing the atrocious behavior of others.

RANDALL SMITH

Del Mar