On the Press' Coverage of Sierra Leone and A Reply
At the end of June '99, I wrote and had published letter to the local paper
regarding the situation in Sierra Leone and the US press' (non-)reaction to it.
Today, I got an inciteful response by the post from a local yahoo. A little
foreshadowing: contrary to what you might think, I did not make a spelling
error/typo in the previous sentence. Below are both in their entireity.
26 June '99
Dear Editor:
A couple of days ago, Mary Robinson, the UN High
Commissioner of Human Rights, visited the capital of
war-torn Sierra Leone. During her stay, Ms. Robinson
talked about the how the "appalling atrocities in
Sierra Leone have been largely ignored", referring to
the numerous documented cases of children and women
having limbs and genitals hacked off by the
rebels, women sexually abused and raped and entire
villages being burned by the Revolutionary United
Front (RUF) rebels. Ms. Robinson added that "[t]he
situation in Sierra Leone is worse than Kosovo."
The civil war in Sierra Leone is not a case of some
so-called ethnic conflict. The rebels are equal
opportunity maimers. They are also free
of any ideology other than the seizing of power and
enriching themselves by stealing the country's
diamonds. They have no popular support. After
all, who would support a group who chopped off
people's limbs, not in isolated cases, but
systematically and as official policy (according to
Human Rights' Watch).
The highest ranking human rights' official in the
world called the human rights' abuses in Sierra Leone
"worse than Kosovo." Given the massive number of
column inches that the Post-Star has consecrated to
the Kosovo crisis, I would've hoped it could've at least devoted
a tiny bit of space to Ms. Robinson's comments. Come
on, not even a paragraph in the World Briefs section
on a conflict "worse than Kosovo?"
Or maybe these remarks by Ms. Robinson didn't even
make the Associated Press wire? If so, that's a
shameful commentary on the priorities of the A.P.
And one would thus have to ask oneself why one violent
conflict in which a small group violently targets
innocent civilians is given blanket coverage by the
American media while another is almost completely
ignored.
Yours,
Brian Farenell
Glens Falls
Dear Mr. Farenell,
What these negroidal-types are doing among themselves
is never our business. We should only interfere when
they are a threat to us. It has long been known that
they are natural killers. It is also known that the
only thing they like better than killing their own
kind, is killing "whites." I'd recommend that you put
your sympathies were [sic] they belong.
Sincerely,
[name deleted]
Queensbury, NY
Note: Since it was a private correspondance and since I have no way of
verifying that the person who signed his name was the person who actually
wrote it, I have withheld the name of the presumed author.
Opinion: I won't waste my time and a stamp on giving this guy the
satisfaction of a reply. But suffice it to say, the USA, like Sierra
Leone, is a democracy and he is entitled to his point of view. I just
hope our public debate is driven by people who live in 1999, not 1699.
Click here to return to the writings' page
Page last updated: 3 July '99, 1755 EDT
Email: saabrian@yahoo.com
