Letters - Letter to the Editor

I read with interest and approval Jonathan Rowe's article entitled "Reach Out And Annoy Someone" (November 2000) via Guardian Unlimited's weblog. Cell phones--or mobiles as they are known in the UK--are an equally large problem here.

I have to admit to owning a mobile for security reasons, as I often travel late at night, but I leave it switched off. I have vowed never to become one of those sad individuals who measures his or her self-worth by the number of calls received during a train journey.

The "quiet coach" idea has been put into practice on some trains here in response to consumer demand. I commute to London on Virgin trains, which feature one quiet coach, where mobiles, and sometimes personal stereos, are banned. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't. Usually businessmen bring their phones in and lay them on the table, oblivious to the numerous "quiet coach" signs and dirty looks from the anti-mobile brigade. It is usually dependent on the determination and boldness of this group to ensure that anyone whose phone is rung is swiftly asked to leave, with varying degrees of politeness.

I have sat in a quiet coach filled with trilling mobiles, or, as happened last night, a silent carriage. This was prompted by one brave soul who shouted at some boorish businessman yapping into his mobile, which had the superb effect of putting the fear of God into all potential mobile users. When I am forced to get on a train without a quiet coach, my only satisfaction is watching people get disconnected from their caller as the train passes into a tunnel.

JANE PERRONE United Kingdom

Lest We Forget

Re: "The Ghost of Tom Joad," November 2000. I would like to thank the author for a very insightful analysis into what is happening with attitudes today toward the poor and less fortunate. Memories of poverty also fade with success. How few of us admit to the role of luck because we sound so much superior by saying it was the result of hard work and greater talent! The article was excellent. It will be my Christmas mailer.

JOHN BALOG Goose Creek, S.C.

Re: "The Ghost of Tom Joad," November 2000. I am raising a young child, and he knows about recycling and helping others. He knows why he should give away a Pokemon card every now and then when trading with our neighbors who don't have as much as him. He knows what Goodwill sells and why the Salvation Army exists. Sadly, lots of kids don't--and their parents seem to pretend they don't either. Maybe we live in a society that has turned toward "ME" instead of community.

Look at money for example: The more you have, the more you want, the less you give others. This was cited in the article with the state of Massachusetts versus the state of Mississippi. Here, we are gearing up for a Hunger Awareness Banquet, where your number will decide your financial status at the door. One high-school student even slept in a box on the side of the road to raise donations of food, etc. I don't think these activities truly impress upon people what it's really like to be in poverty. Of course moral judgments cloud the picture too.

Keep up the good work! The article was great and I'm forwarding it to friends!

JENNIFER GRENTZER, BSW Paducah, Ky.

Enforcing The Court

"Contempt of Court" by Jonathan Tepperman in the November 2000 issue of The Washington Monthly is certainly an eloquent argument for the establishment of a strong international court of justice. However, a question which it does not seem to address is whether such a court can be made truly effective if there is no international code of law. Tepperman does seems to be putting the cart before the horse. Except for certain brief periods of history when one sovereign power dominated most of the known world, there has never been universal agreement on such a code of law. One such period was just after World War II, when the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union more or less ruled the world, and clearly defined, for example, what a war criminal was. In other words, unless some form of world government much stronger than our present United Nations is established, I cannot see that an international court of justice could be very effective.

GEORGE SEIFERT Ames, Iowa

Get With The Programs

Your article "Finding The Civil Service's Hidden Sex Appeal" (November 2000) has a major flaw. The current government organization is obsolete. Jobs that ought to be done mechanically are done by hand. The few automated processes are hindered by islands of automation that cannot talk to each other. People must bridge these gaps by taking information from one process and entering it into another. The United States government ought to be well down the road to electronic government. This would allow people to conduct government business at their convenience, not the convenience of some bureaucrat. Implementation of electronic government would allow a civil service no more than half the size of the current establishment to provide a much higher level of service to the American people.