Letters

Voyeur TV: We Like to Watch

"Watching other people give up their privacy makes it easier to give up our own. Big Brother is watching, and we are him." ALAN M. KAPLAN Ridgewood, N.J.

There's nothing new or mysterious about voyeurism. Television programmers have just rediscovered normal human behavior [TELEVISION, June 26]. From the beginning of time, people have enjoyed watching others. The thrill we get from seeing Survivor is the same thrill that Jimmy Stewart got from secretly observing his neighbors in Rear Window and that parkgoers get from watching lovers neck on a bench. SHERRI CADEAUX Holland, Mich.

You should have addressed the alternatives to voyeur TV. If people want to see the real world, all they need to do is go outside and walk, run, ride a bike or watch a sunset. Activity is its own reward. VTV is a joke. Turn off your voyeur-TV shows and get a life in the real world. BILL SMART Santa Barbara, Calif.

Athenians of the 5th century B.C. attended plays by Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles. Londoners in Elizabethan England enjoyed the plays of Shakespeare. Americans in the 21st century watch Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Survivor. Does anyone else find this disturbing and frightening? (THE REV.) FRANK L. HOSS Bourbonnais, Ill.

You left one thing out. We are a generation that grew up with Gilligan's Island. Survivor is like an extended version of Gilligan's Island. Who is Ginger? Who is the Skipper? Who is Mary Ann? CATHY SMALL Olivenhain, Calif.

The Hippest King

When Morocco's new king, Mohammed VI [WORLD, June 26], was asked if he was satisfied with U.S. economic support, he answered, "Absolutely not." Well, Mo, first you could fly coach, then buy a Saturn instead of driving that customized Mercedes, and shop at the Men's Wearhouse instead of a custom tailor. This is what hardworking Americans do to save money. Petty despots like the King have ripped off the American taxpayer long enough. It's time we told our politicians to stop squandering our tax dollars on excessive foreign aid to pathetic little men. The arrogance! VIN SAVINO Lawrence, N.Y.

That Sunday in the Park

Let's not allow the New York City police to get away with blaming their failure to act in the Sunday assaults on women in Central Park on concerns about rogue policing [NATION, June 26]. There is no cause-and-effect relationship between the recent high-profile incidents of excessive police force and the cops' failure to respond to the besieged women's pleas for help. This behavior is the result of an insensitive, poorly trained police force. And why do New York City police officers think an appropriate response to criticism about how they do their job is just to stop doing it? ADRIENNE ONOFRI New York City

People who carry weapons generally use them only in self-defense. Why don't more women carry guns? One shot could have stopped the Central Park idiocy and done the rest of us a favor. DAVID DONEY Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Nearly 50 women were stripped and groped in the park. Such acts remind women where we stand today--second-class citizens living in a patriarchal society, our bodies public property to be fondled against our will by strangers. BRIE WEISMAN Bethel, Maine

Dread of the High Board

I enjoyed Sarah Vowell's list of movies that fuel the fear of swimming [ESSAY, June 26]. However, many of us who are not afraid of swimming are terrified of the long board at the end of the pool. Here are some items to add to her scary list: 1) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid--the dive off the cliff stays fresh in every nondiver's mind; 2) the tape of Greg Louganis' hitting his head on the platform during the 1988 Olympics; 3) Back to School--Rodney Dangerfield as a diving champion? Scary enough! ROGER K. WEISS Panorama City, Calif.

Along the U.S. Border

The index item for your report on clashes on the U.S.-Mexico border [NATION, June 26] read, "Immigration: This Land Isn't Your Land." That attitude makes me sick. Have we forgotten that a large part of the Southwest once belonged to Spain and then to Mexico? These illegals, as you call them, have more right to that land than anyone else. They were here at the beginning. MICHELLE CRUZ New York City

Only a coward would threaten the poor with an automatic weapon the way private citizens are doing along the border. More innocent people will be killed or injured by these vigilantes. Perhaps the resources spent on patrolling the Mexican border would be better spent in feeding these poor souls. PATRICK M. MCMEANS Euless, Texas

Those who want to leave Mexico should enter the U.S. the legal way and become proper legal citizens. Allowing immigrants into the U.S. is a good thing culturally for our country, but my great-grandparents came here legally, and other immigrants should do the same. RHEANNE E. LEHMAN Spring, Texas

To shoot or assault a person is wrong. The good fortune of having been born in the U.S. or of owning a ranch cannot make it right. The people acting as border patrollers are no better than Ku Klux Klan members. DAVID CALLAGHAN Bloomington, Ind.