Readers Write: Saudi Arabia isn't model for reform; Flawed logic on texting and driving

Letters to the Editor for the weekly print issue of June 25, 2012: Saudi Arabia's oppression of women, foreign workers, and the Shiite minority is shocking; Don't jump to faulty conclusions to explain an uptick in traffic accidents after a ban on texting while driving.

Saudi Arabia isn't a model for reform

The June 4 Focus article "Reformers in the land of Mecca" notes progress in the fight for democratic reforms and the battle to improve human rights in Saudi Arabia. But the article fails to fully convey the level of oppression many in Saudi Arabia – especially women and religious minorities – continue to face daily.

We must not forget: The degree of repression against women, foreign workers, and the Shiite minority in Saudi Arabia is shocking by American standards. (Yet the word "Shiite" does not even appear in the article!)

In my view, not fully acknowledging these problems amounts to disinformation or lying by omission.

Don Bedell

Makanda, Ill.

Faulty logic, unfair characterizations

The headline for Jim Sollisch's June 4 commentary ("Why would anyone oppose a ban on texting?") is thought provoking. But in my opinion, his attempts at cleverness fall flat.

I don't buy into his characterization or humor when he calls those opposing a ban on texting while driving "The Slippery Slope Party," claiming they argue that such a government restriction on personal liberty is the first step leading to a "totalitarian state."

Similarly, his logic strikes me as faulty when he offers an explanation for the uptick in traffic accidents after texting bans had been enacted in certain states.

Mr. Sollisch claims that making texting illegal won't prevent people from doing it; they'll simply put cellphones in their laps, leading to increased accidents. Such an interpretation of statistics is weak (for one, a small sample size frequently leads to false results/conclusions).

Peter Bowman

Kittery, Maine

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Readers Write: Saudi Arabia isn't model for reform; Flawed logic on texting and driving
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Readers-Respond/2012/0625/Readers-Write-Saudi-Arabia-isn-t-model-for-reform-Flawed-logic-on-texting-and-driving
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe