Letters to the Editor
By Daily Bruin Staff
May 11, 2003 9:00 p.m.
Steinfeld ignores “˜minor’ detail
Rebecca Steinfeld’s argument in her submission,
“Israeli independence also a Palestinian catastrophe”
(May 9), was well presented and thought out, except for one minor
detail she based her entire argument on. Yom Haatzma’ut,
the Israeli Independence Day, is not a celebration of the victory
of the 1948 War. It is a celebration of the creation of the
state of Israel. That’s why the day remembered is May
14, 1948 ““ on the Jewish calendar it’s 5 Iyar 1948, and
not July 20, 1949. Tom Berger
Class of 2005, aerospace engineering
“˜Miss Taiwan’ doll not symbol of
peace I’m responding to the article “Museum
goers make friends with “˜Miss Taiwan'” (News, May
8). Tens of millions of Chinese, Koreans, Taiwanese and other
peoples suffered at the hands of Japanese soldiers and Japanese
occupation in World War II. In one fell swoop, the Japanese army
killed over 300,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians and raped 20,000
Chinese women in the Rape of Nanking. Most of these victims were
civilians, and the rape victims included young girls. Civilians
were decapitated in contests in which officers competed to see who
could behead the most civilians in one conquest. This is only one
example of the brutality exhibited by the Japanese army in World
War II and is not an isolated example. These methods of oppression
and cruelty were applied to many other populations as well. The
exhibition of the “Miss Taiwan” doll as a symbol of
goodwill between Japan and the United States is a travesty. The
name alone makes a shameless mockery of the victims of Japanese war
crimes in World War II. Japanese occupation in Taiwan, while under
the guise of building a strong economy, also resulted in sexual
slavery for women, execution of innocent people, and general
oppression of the population. Young women were forced into laboring
in military camps where they served as “comfort women”
and were raped by dozens of soldiers a day. Many of these women
either suffered from multiple venereal diseases until their deaths,
or committed suicide. It is ironic and insulting to say that this
doll, posing as a symbol for “peace and goodwill,” is
named “Miss Taiwan.” Its rightful place in any museum
should be as a haunting reminder of brutal oppression. Jenn
Chou
First-year, undeclared
Bruin editorial unfair to animal rights
protesters Not only is the Daily Bruin’s April 28th
editorial, “Animal testing necessary for some research”
incorrect in its assertions, it is also insulting to its readers. I
don’t know about other people, but when I am honest with
myself, I do not find animal testing to be for the best, nor do I
believe it something we “must” live with. Is the Daily
Bruin trying to say that simply because we do not have sufficient
technology to completely replace experiments, no one should attempt
to stand up for the animals and protest against these atrocities?
What if that same mentality had been applied to other movements?
Improving technology would probably take less time than changing
the mind-set of an entire country (such as was necessary to abolish
slavery and obtain rights for minority groups). If no one
challenges these experiments and encourages scientists to discover
the technology, nothing will ever change. More money should be
spent on trying to figure out better alternatives, although some
have already been discovered and are still not used. In its
editorial the Daily Bruin claims sentimentality was the tactic used
by the protesters, however, such a statement is completely
unfounded. The World Week speaker centered his lecture around the
scientific argument for the senselessness of animal experiments.
And many times UCLA researchers have been asked to participate in a
debate, and no one has stepped forward. So, who is really the one
to blame for the lack of “informed debate?” The
editorial also states that an animal research supporter would be
disgusted by the images displayed on the protesters’ posters;
however, such images greet the researchers every day in the labs,
and they seem to have no problem continuing with their work. I
would think the real-life animal would be even more disturbing than
a picture on a poster, but obviously some people do not find such
things upsetting. A request was made for protesters to
differentiate between necessary and unnecessary experiments, as if
that would get UCLA researchers off the hook. In case the editorial
board did not know, the work targeted during World Week was that of
Melega, Fuster and the Schlags. Their experiments could be
conducted on human volunteers or people already addicted to
methamphetamines. Therefore, animals are being tortured without
reason. Where’s the logic in that? And even if the experiment
itself does not harm the animal, simply living his or her entire
life in a tiny cage eventually drives an animal insane. This, in
itself, is torture. The editorial claims that the decision must be
made after considering the hierarchy of life, but who ever decided
that researchers get to make that decision for everyone? Who
appointed them as our spokespeople? I know that I, for one, most
definitely did not. Chelsea Heredia
Third-year, English
Bush hypocritical in pursuit of “˜oil
war’ Makes you proud to be an American, the way Bush
has liberated Iraq’s oil for the Iraqis. The education
president can now “leave no child behind” and build
some hospitals with the proceeds, as the Iraqi kids continue to
have their limbs blown to pieces by the remaining U.S.-made cluster
bombs strewn about. If only Bush would liberate U.S. oil for
Americans! Hey, the proceeds could keep Harbor Hospital from
closure, move emergency room patients at L.A. County Hospital out
of the halls after their week’s stay for treatment, re-open
the trauma units that have been shut down across Los Angeles since
the golden years when Reagan’s trickle-down theory evolved.
“Free-enterprise” ““ how proudly the stars have
been transformed dollar signs. Oops! I’ve got to run.
It’s time for another oil war. Andrew Kay Liberman
Extension student
