Letters: Oct. 18, 1999

SECRETS OF THE NEW SILICON VALLEY

You should be commended for painting a chilling picture of opportunity run amuck among Internet entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley [SPECIAL REPORT, Sept. 27]. Your cover story GetRich.com would be less disturbing if it were not at least a partly accurate description of the state of affairs for Internet start-ups. However, there are teams of people building Internet companies whose objective is to add value to people’s lives, not just venture capitalists’ portfolios. Nothing will alienate American consumers faster than the realization that behind every dot.com is a bunch of inexperienced twentysomethings out to make a quick buck. Your article should be a wake-up call to our entire industry. SUE LEVIN, CEO lucy.com Portland, Ore.

Silly valley seems like a narcissist’s Nirvana, one with people who are without soul or passion for anything except self-gratification. I feel sorry for them. It’s as if aliens had landed and created a new group of pod people. LISA MCINTYRE Bakersfield, Calif.

As a Bay area high-tech worker, I found “Get Rich.com a great account of the place where I live. But you failed to mention the traffic, which many here think is worse than in Los Angeles, and the spiraling cost of housing. And what of the miserable schools or San Francisco’s recent transformation from the eclectic city of Jack Kerouac to a land of B-school homogeneity? Unless we see a dramatic shift in priorities, with urban planning, public transit and responsible growth management paramount, the quality of life will continue to decline. This will eventually affect the dreams of those at the top of the pyramid and not just those closer to the bottom. MATTHEW PLUNKETT Berkeley, Calif.

You described a Silicon Valley with an economy fueled mostly by 28-year-olds bent on making a fortune at the expense of their social lives. But you missed a key component. Many of us have successfully started companies without sacrificing the joys of spending time with family and close friends. I fear the individuals you depicted will wake up in 10 years and find that the really important things in life have passed them by. And according to your own statistics, only a handful of these entrepreneurs will have anything to show for it. SHARON K. GILLENWATER, PRESIDENT Fidget.com San Francisco

Someone who could say, “the thrill of taking part is far more important than whether you win or not” has never raised a dollar in Silicon Valley. JON FISHER, CEO NetClerk Inc. South San Francisco

A once techie environment has become a trendy, yuppie one. Your story sent the message that the Internet is the place to be because of its potential for wealth and glory. Young ceos glamorize themselves by being in the spotlight, inflating their egos and company names. Are these CEOs really heroes? They are receiving exorbitant amounts of money from venture capitalists, even when their companies haven’t yet made money. Some of these dot.com companies have ridiculously silly, short-term business plans yet continue to receive money and press coverage. The Internet used to be a culture of novel ideas and visions. Now it is about jumping on the money bandwagon with an IPO destination. HOUSTON JAYNE Sunnyvale, Calif.

The people who work behind counters for minimum wage are a dying breed here in the Valley, along with janitors and regular folks. The majority of people here are just getting by. Not to mention the broken marriages, forgotten children and burned-out dreamers that litter the Information Highway. The high-tech entrepreneurs should learn to make their own coffee. Soon there won’t be anybody left behind the counter to make it for them. AMY GREEN San Jose, Calif.

What you failed to convey in your cynical portrait of the Valley is what the second wave of Internet entrepreneurs is doing for the Web, for the economy and for society. The M.B.A.s busily cultivating the commercial potential of the Internet are making it meaningful to people. I work for ububu, an Internet start-up that is striving to turn the Internet into something that could actually be fun, useful and engaging to nontechies everywhere. We are fulfilling the potential of the Internet as a new medium, a goal that seemed elusive just a few years ago, when the Internet appeared relevant only to technophiles. EMILY BACKUS San Francisco

THE REAL HURRICANE FLOYD

I was dumbfounded by the ignorance and insensitivity you displayed in the article on Hurricane Floyd [NATION, Sept. 27]. Using phrases like “a very close call” and referring to the storm as “a sheep on steroids” showed complete disregard for the incredible suffering that still continues as I write this letter. Thousands of families have lost everything they owned. These are not rich retirees on the coast; these are simple, hardworking, God-fearing people who do not have the resources to rebound. How utterly thoughtless and inhuman of you–real hearts of stone. SPRING CHARLES Durham, N.C.

I am sick and tired of reading about the destruction of hurricanes. These natural phenomena have been around for millions of years. It is man’s inability to respect and understand nature that results in such destruction and havoc. You cannot build a wooden house in a hurricane area and expect it to survive a killer storm, or build close to the ocean and not expect it to take a bite out of your life. We must learn how to design houses and buildings that can withstand the fiercest winds, with materials suited for such conditions. Leave the seaside to nature, to parks and wildlife. Build farther inland. The Caribbean god of storms is here to stay. RICHARD RIVERA Plantation, Fla.

I don’t know what your definition of catastrophic is, but in my book more than 47 dead in North Carolina alone, 30,000 homes flooded, much of the state’s surface area underwater, billions of dollars in damages, jobs and businesses gone forever, horrific agricultural losses of crops and livestock and environmental pollution beyond compare define catastrophic. You missed the story here. The worst floods in 500 years thankfully don’t happen every day. PAT WEEKS Spring Hope, N.C.

THE WIND IN HIS HAIR

There was one good thing that came from Hurricane Floyd [NATION, Sept. 27]: seeing Dan Rather broadcast the TV news while standing outside near a beach in torrential rain and wind. No hat (probably for effect), rain dripping in his face and hair in disarray. I would have had a good chuckle if Sam Donaldson had done the same thing and his toupee had “gone with the wind.” DON THACKSTON Anderson, S.C.

BIG GIFT FROM BILL GATES

Bill Gates’ huge gift of subsidized education [NATION, Sept. 27] for thousands of nonwhite students is certainly a boon to the so-called minorities in America (in this global world, they are actually majorities by huge margins). But one has to wonder what would have happened if the gift had been for the exclusive use of whites as opposed to minorities. Surely Gates would have been denounced as a racist, and his troubles with the Federal Government, to say nothing of the media, would have exploded. The image of America’s constantly bending over backward to please an exploding nonwhite population that in the end will be its death is not a pretty sight to see. WAYNE A. GORDON West Vancouver, B.C.

THE SOVIET UNION’S EVIL NATURE

The information provided by Soviet KGB defector Vasili Mitrokhin in his book [WORLD, Sept. 27] adds further documentation to how the liberal media and academic elites got it wrong about the Soviet Union. They mercilessly lampooned President Reagan for referring to the U.S.S.R. as the “evil empire.” Indeed, exposing the Soviet Union’s “evil” nature is exactly the reason Mitrokhin gives for endangering his life on a daily basis to copy from the kgb archives unassailable records of that evil. The liberal elites, as recently revealed documents have established, were wrong about Alger Hiss, the Rosenbergs and now, according to Mitrokhin, about the Soviet Union’s evil agenda. MICHAEL POST Cypress, Calif.

IF HITLER HAD DIED IN A BEER HALL

The final paragraph in the review of What If? [BOOKS, Sept. 27], a collection of essays conjecturing what might have been the outcome if certain historical events had happened differently, missed the point about “counterfactuals.” Whether they make history more “vivid” is a secondary benefit. Instead, counterfactual analysis is a useful tool of serious historical inquiry because it forces professionals and students to separate what is really important, especially in the long term, from what is not.

Consider what might have happened if Adolf Hitler had been killed during the Munich beer-hall putsch. The fledgling Nazi Party probably would have remained an obscure collection of misfits and ultra-nationalist rabble, unknown outside Bavaria. This counterfactual, therefore, requires us to focus on the significance of Hitler’s personality, program and instinct for political opportunism as determinative factors.

Would there have been a Nazi revolution in Germany without Hitler? Perhaps. But it is unlikely that the course of world history from 1933 through 1945 would have been as disastrous if the Nazis after 1923 had been led by someone other than Hitler. STEVEN. S. BERIZZI Hartford, Conn.

LIFE IS HERE TO STAY

Your article on the evolution of the human species [PALEONTOLOGY, Aug. 23] conclusively reported that natural selection has produced a creature capable of overturning evolution itself. To think that the human is the center of existence is akin to the ancient belief that Earth is the center of the universe and all the heavenly bodies revolve around it.

It is true that the activities of human beings do contribute to the path taken by evolution, but this human component could wilt away. Collapse of Earth’s ecosystem would not mean life would end. Mother Nature would find a way to start another biological evolution. We have the power to destroy ourselves, but not all life in the universe. YADAVA ARYAL Nepalgunj, Nepal

WHAT EVOLUTIONISTS BELIEVE

I was amazed to read the letter from the Rev. George Morgan of Chicago [LETTERS, Sept. 13], who wrote, “Pure evolution raises serious questions about such matters as justice, freedom and rights, for if there is no God, then, according to the principles of evolution, the more powerful must always win while the weak and inferior deserve to be trampled or eliminated.”

Maybe Morgan should read and watch TV more attentively. He would surely discover that this is exactly what is happening around here!

And he should read a bit more on the subject of evolution and the people who adhere to its theories. Not all evolutionists believe there is no God. They just believe God did not create man in his own image. YVES ST.-DENIS Verona, Italy

TRAGEDY IN EAST TIMOR

I read with shock of the current happenings in East Timor [WORLD, Sept. 20]. I am disgusted and revolted by the attitude of the majority of the Indonesian people toward the plight of the East Timorese, considering this was the same nation agitating to free itself from the clutches of the mighty Suharto clan only a few months ago. I would like an “enlightened” Indonesian to please explain the difference between the circumstances of the East Timorese and those of the Indonesians. The people of Indonesia have conveniently forgotten that a referendum was held, and a majority of East Timor voted to become an independent nation. JUBRIL ADEBOLA GAFFAR Lagos, Nigeria Indonesia was occupied by the Japanese during World War II. In 1945, when Japanese troops were forced to surrender, some young Indonesians started a campaign of murder. These young criminals were called pemudas (youngsters), and the Indonesian army trained by the Japanese occupation force did nothing to prevent their crimes. Now we see the same sort of thing happening in East Timor. As long as the Indonesian military leaders maintain the same authoritarian principles as the Japanese military did during the war, the countries in the Southeast Pacific will have to face the danger of unrest. R. SIMONIS Amsterdam

Australia’s foreign policy toward Asia in general and Indonesia in particular will prove suicidal in the long run. The leadership role Australia is taking in East Timor will anger the Asians. Indonesians are normally a patient lot, but their harassment by the Australians will be remembered for years to come. I hope the other Asian nations will let Australia feel their anger. INDRA DJANI Jakarta

THE U.S. TAKES A BACKSEAT

I commend Charles Krauthammer’s “The Limits of Humanitarianism” [ESSAY, Sept. 27] and his thesis that the reason the U.S. did not send troops to East Timor is that Indonesia has greater strategic significance to the U.S. than Kosovo does. But Krauthammer missed two points. The first: the Indonesian military under General Suharto came to power through a bloody military coup in 1965 that cost the lives of thousands of Indonesians; there are persuasive arguments that the CIA played a part in helping bring Suharto to power. The second: the invasion of East Timor by Suharto’s military junta was in part made possible because of the military arms supplied by the U.S. government under the Ford and Carter administrations. HIDAJAT SJARIF Edmonton, Alta.

Krauthammer should have carried his column to its logical conclusion: the U.S. will intervene, or support interventions, only in situations where it calculates the outcome could directly affect U.S. interests. Period. Democratic principles and basic human rights have little to do with these calculations. That is realpolitik as Krauthammer rationalizes the notion, but it is a far cry from leadership of the Western world, so often claimed by U.S. politicians and pundits. JURIS MAZUTIS Nepean, Ont.

HEAD START REPLIES

I would like to clarify and correct some statements made by Matt Miller in his piece about George W. Bush’s plans for education reform [NATION, Sept. 20]. The Head Start program has a two-pronged approach that not only addresses a child’s needs but also the parents’ by assisting them through services and employment. The positive effects of this comprehensive approach are well proved by research. Head Start four-year-olds perform above the levels expected for children from low-income families who have not attended center-based programs. The description that Head Start “has no curriculum and loads of shoddy teachers” is unfounded. Programs must meet national program performance standards in order to attain and maintain administration of a Head Start program. SARAH M. GREENE, CEO National Head Start Association Alexandria, Va.

MEMORIES OF RADIO CITY

The article on the restoration of Radio City Music Hall [DESIGN, Sept. 27] stirred so many memories for me. Like the Music Hall, I am almost 70, and at 13 years of age in 1943, I worked there as a page on afternoons after school and on weekends. The job was memorable, as it let me see the greatest showplace, the corps de ballet, the choral group, the newest movies and the Rockettes firsthand. And as it was during World War II, I recall the servicemen going to, and coming back from, the war. I always sneaked them in ahead of the long lines, so that they wouldn’t have to waste their free time. Ah, youthful memories! JOHN J. SHEERIN Chatsworth, N.J.