Letter.

• Position: Letter to the Editor

Dear Synthesis/Regeneration,

There are people who believe that Hitler did not order the deaths of millions of Jews. There are people who believe that Stalin did not order the deaths of millions of Russians. That Pol Pot did do the same to millions of Cambodians. And now, there are people who believe that what the Serbs did in Kosovo was not genocide.

Forensic pathologists are digging up the mass graves. Examining the remains of infants who must have been killed, in Don Fitz' opinion, because they "fought against the Yugoslav state." Survivors tell of wholesale massacres of old people and children. But they must all be lying because of "the full participation of Public Relations firms."

What Don Fitz wrote in your issue #20 took me back to the days of the Cold War, when the Communist press would explain that entirely accurate accusations against Joe Stalin were capitalist lies. Those Communists were deceiving themselves as they tried to deceive others. It sickens me to see a person I used to respect doing the same.

It's one thing to hold to non-violence as an absolute principle, even when faced with extreme evil. That's standing up for principle. It's something else entirely to pretend that the actions of Hitler, Stalin, Milosevic, and their like, are not evil. That's compromising principle for political convenience.

Gandhi called non-violence "truth force." Holding to the truth is an essential part of it. I'm sorry that Don Fitz cannot live up to this standard.

Sincerely,

Ed Jahn

Response:

With the hype and hysteria used to goad people into an anti-Serbian frenzy, it is important to be truthful. A good place for truth to start would be an accurate recounting of my article on Yugoslavia. Ed Jahn claims that the article pretended that Milosevic was not evil. This is not truthful. The article referred to "Serb brutality" and described...