Michael Henderson suggests

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Letters

Wednesday, 6th February 2008

Spectator readers respond to recent articles

Nip terror in the bud

Sir: Correlli Barnett would have us believe Con Coughlin is suffering from paranoia and describes George Bush’s ‘war on terror’ as stale rhetoric (Letters, 2 February). One wonders what ailment Correlli Barnett suffers from — perhaps ‘paranoiac denial’ is a fair diagnosis. Could he inform us which countries, if any, with sizeable Muslim minorities are free of religious conflict? The Philippines, Indonesia, Malaya, Thailand, India, the Middle East, Western Europe, all are in turmoil to a greater or lesser degree. As he says, in Britain there have so far been only ‘occasional acts of terrorism’. This is thanks to the efficiency of our security services, certainly not to any shortage of numbers sympathetic to the slaughter of us infidels. Most sensible people would agree a potential contagion is best nipped in the bud, rooted out and ‘smashed’. Mr Barnett writes glibly about a sense of proportion. Would it be permissible to ask if he has ever experienced terrorism in the raw: the killing and maiming of relatives and friends?

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George Cselko

February 12th, 2008 3:20pm

I would like to invite Matthew Parris to amend his "conclusion that life does not exist". The sheer ubiquity of the life that both forms our very essence and surrounds us wherever we look seems to have dazzled Mr Parris. He immediately dismisses the possibility of "consciousness" as an essential characteristic of "life" on the basis that "bacterium are not conscious." Apart from being a somewhat speculative finding, this seems to be a rather narrow view of consciousness as "self-awareness". Human beings vary greatly in their experience of self-awareness but retain at all times the potential even when sleeping or day-dreaming (otherwise they could not be awoken). This seems to suggest that there are two aspects to consciousness (or "life"): the capacity for awareness and its fulfilment. Recent studies have shown that some animals such as elephants are able to recognise themselves in a mirror. My body as it types this letter forms part of my "self-awareness" though itself consisting of seemingly inanimate materials. All entities interact with their environment and therefore have the potential for change in their constituent parts and even ultimately to "awaken" or become self-aware. Might it possibly be more accurate to conclude that it is in fact ONLY life that exists?