Web Letters: The New Face of Warfare

The story Fantin Abbas tells is horrifying. It is also not very surprising. We, in the West, project our current society upon the rest of the world. Mostly we fail to remember our own history. The practice of infanticide was fairly common in Europe for a couple of centuries after the "Enlightenment." Child labor was common in the US until the mid-twentieth century. The "noble savage" is a myth not founded in historical reality.

The answer to these problems is civilization. Civilization is neither easy nor quick. Depending upon your view, it has taken either hundreds or thousands of years.

Where I beg to differ is her proposition that poverty is the cause of uncivilized societies. In my reading of history civilization brings prosperity, not the other way around.

Roy Lofquist

Titusville, FL