How We Bear Witness to Wartime Slayings
Re “Berg’s Death a Reminder of the Precious Gift of Life,” Voices, May 22: Congratulations, Jordi Ortega, on writing a balanced essay on the killing of Nicholas Berg. It contains equal parts of idiocy and irony. Berg’s beheading did not in any way display a message of peace. What it displayed was that Berg’s killers will do whatever it takes to advance their cause. Wrap your mind around that: whatever it takes. Fly a plane into a building, cut the head off an innocent or detonate a nuclear bomb in downtown Los Angeles; it’s all fair.
And while you reminisce about luxuriating on the beach drinking beer with your girlfriend, consider for a moment how these messengers of peace would view her actions. Sorry, Jordi. At 27, it’s time for you to grow up and choose sides. There is no third way this time.
Lawrence E. Soza
Covina
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It’s too close too call which is worse: the fact that Ortega composed this essay or that The Times printed it. He has a perfect day at the beach with his friends, then comes home and “Googles” the “Nicholas Berg beheading video,” saying it “connects your soul to the world.” He “invite[s] everyone” to watch it.
You mean this snuff film? That’s what it is, isn’t it? How dare you? The only thing the Internet is connecting to the world is species-wide sociopathology. Weep for the future. (I’d join you, but I’ve got it at even money that if I see any more of this juvenile gibberish served up as insight into the soul, I’ll be throwing myself in front of a bus.)
Richard Sandstrom
Los Angeles
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Re “Sensitive Images Find Their Way Into Classrooms,” May 23: As an educator, I couldn’t help but see the irony in the story discussing the pros and cons of suitable teaching material for use in the classroom. David Pearl, a history teacher quoted in the story, says that when discussing the Vietnam War he doesn’t show the infamous footage of a bound Viet Cong prisoner being shot in the head by a Vietnamese general, as he feels it’s inappropriate.
Lo and behold, jump to Page B8 in the same section, where another article discusses the hardships of National Guard teachers shipped to Iraq, and there is a picture of two Poway High School students at their computer terminals. The image on one student’s screen? The footage of the execution that Pearl declined to show. Whether intentional or not, this juxtaposition illustrates the amount of discretion we as educators have to use every day.
Janice Hickey
Santa Monica