Madam, - A letter from Senator Norris last Thursday attacked an Opinion article by Mark Steyn about the EU poll on attitudes to Israel, and in particular this comment: "69 per cent of Austrians and 74 per cent of the Dutch think Israel is the world's greatest menace. Not bad for a country that at its narrowest point is barely wider than my rural township in New Hampshire".
As is clear from the context of this article and from the geography and history of the Middle East, Mr Steyn's comment referred to the size of Israel at its narrowest point.
Unfortunately Senator Norris did not understand this and in his letter assumed the comment related to Holland. So he went on to say: "He appears to resent the 74 per cent of the Dutch population who think so" and finished: "perhaps he wishes that the inhabitants of the Low Countries were as narrow in outlook as his own little patch in the land of the free", adding in an unnecessary insult for good measure. To compound all this he then commented on Mr Steyn's mental attitude - "tendentious", "bratishness", "frank prejudice", "logical jumps", and "unwavering certitude". He finally commented on Mr Steyn's physical appearance - "plump", "does not suffer from anorexia nervosa".
In a nine-sentence letter, seven sentences either commented upon Mr Steyn's physical characteristics or mental attitudes, insulted another country or totally misunderstood the point and the context.
A relevant warning about such commentary is included in The Imperial Logic of Bush's Liberal Agenda by Edward Rhodes: "The threat to liberal values and liberal institutions lies within us as well as outside of us. It is not simply illiberal institutions and illiberal individuals that threaten freedom, peace, and co-operation. What endangers liberalism is also the weakness or incompleteness of our own liberal faith and, consequently, our own capacity to adopt illiberal institutions and behavioural patterns" (Survival, Spring 2003, published by the IISS).
There is a slippery slope from a liberal position to the abyss of totalitarianism, starting with fair and balanced criticism, descending to ongoing criticism lacking balance, and then criticism that does not fully understand the issue and engages in personal attacks on those we do not agree with. This can lead on to a callousness to the pain or death of members of the "offending" group, thereby dehumanising them. There are only a few short steps from such a position to the abyss.
Fanciful? French history says not.
Look at the example of the Paul Faure faction of the French socialists of the 1930s. Through a yearning for peace, a belief in rationality, and suspicion of the Jews, many of them worked tirelessly to understand and empathise with the Nazi position and ended up either emasculating the French war effort, serving in the government of Pétain, or co-operating with the Nazis and direct involvement in the Holocaust.
A time for reflection, I believe. - Yours, etc.,
RICHARD F. WHELAN, Brighton Hall, Foxrock, Dublin 18.