Sir, - Vincent Browne has added considerable weight to the suspicion that clear thinking is not a prerequisite in Irish political discourse. Our old virus of hand-to-mouth thinking rooted in emotional separatist nationalism has now developed into full-blown anti-thinking.
Mr Browne (Opinion, June 16th) puts anti-thinking on a global plane, exposing the concepts of honour and common sense as empty vessels. Europe had no right to follow the failure of diplomacy by other means. We should have taken the advice of the Chinese, well known for their concern for the welfare of Europe, and allowed Milosovic to kill some more Albanians on the grounds that he might not have killed all that many and in mathematical terms we might have scored. We should have ignored our sad European backyard, picked a trouble spot with a pin, preferably on the other side of the globe, and given that our immediate attention.
He is not alone. Three of four from Dublin in the European Parliament shaping our future represent hard-core anti-thinking activists. They do not want to think about unpleasant responsibilities, as in the PfP. They will rattle begging-bowls and pretend that Dublin consists solely of those who hate Americans (leftist ex-Connolly Youth?), those who hate the British (so-called "Republicans") and "Greens" with infantile, metaphysical "green thoughts in a green shade".
The Europhobic anti-PfP fringe contributors to the national debate occupy centre stage in the media: obscure "committees", "platforms", "movements", all with interchangeable titles and people. Their anti-thinking approach allows them to demand a referendum in hope of a negative result, quoting a majority. But they refuse to think about the majority in favour of Ireland following the tradition of its trailblazing monks and gallant Irish Brigades in the river valleys and on the rolling plains of the old heart of Europe. They deplore the logical thinking of Army officers who accept Plato's belief that the "state is the individual writ large" and, like the individual, as a matter of honour must accept its responsibilities in all fields, including security. - Yours, etc.,
P. D. Goggin, Glenageary Woods, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.