Making calls to "moral high ground" and universal peace, as Emily Good did in her Viewpoint ("Reverse terrorism not the answer,"10/16) is easy. While her emotional pleas may have been quite moving, I have to say that I find her viewpoint to be downright offensive.
I would be quite "willing to pick up guns and fight if drafted." This is because I believe in things like "Freedom. Peace. American ideals." I'm sure Ms. Good would love to ridicule me, and people like myself, for falling for the "military propaganda" of "our corporate media networks." But before she goes that far, I'd probably recommend that she take a look inward and make sure that she, and people like herself, are not falling for unjustified, unsupported, trite, and trendy ultra-liberal ideologies.
She talks about the "economic, political, and social injustice" that the World Trade Center represented to some. Well, quite frankly, a ruling party that advocates anti-education for women, imposes extreme restrictions on what we would call human rights, and would arrest you for shaving your beard isn't exactly a bastion of equality and justice.
Not to me, nor to the majority of the civilians in Afghanistan (who don't support the Taliban). People need to gain some perspective and realize just how much life in America really is better. We are allowed to say what we think. We are allowed to believe what we believe. We are allowed to make personal choices. We're given the opportunity to better ourselves, our lives, and the lives of those we love.
If you've ever been to a developing nation, then maybe you can truly understand the nature of "economic, political, and social injustice." I'm not saying the terrorists should agree with me on that. These are things that I, and many Americans, believe in, and these are things that I would be willing to fight for.
Asking Americans to "look inward and make essential changes in ourselves" just to make room for terrorist ideologies is weak. When you believe in something, truly believe in it, you should stand up for it. I'm not saying that everyone has to get along (like Ms. Good is saying). I'm not saying that everyone has to believe in the same things (which is the only way that there could ever be a world of non-violence, and a world without "the spirit of hate," as Mahatma Gandhi put it).
These are strong ideas, and probably even good ideals, but if we allow terrorists to get away with bombing the World Trade Center, and on top of that, change our policies and ourselves to meet with their ideas, then what does that advocate? It advocates a world where terrorists committing acts of war on civilians rule. The US cannot allow that. Our military efforts aim for military posts, terrorist camps, ammunition silos, and hostile government targets (there are mishaps, of course). Theirs aim for civilians. These are fundamentally different things, and equating them is not logical.
In short, it is important to understand the implications of one's violence, but it is also important to understand the implications of one's nonviolence. Maybe one of the beauties of America is that we can take it for granted. Our lives are so good here that we forget sometimes how different it can be elsewhere.
We assume it's like this everywhere; some kind of contented ignorance that befalls most of us. I've realized in the last few weeks that, especially now, we have to try very hard to avoid taking America for granted. See it for all that it is, good and bad. There is a lot of bad, needless to say. But the good is so basic and fundamental, and that is what we should all be willing to fight for and defend.
Sameer Puri is a junior majoring in electrical engineering.
