Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2012 08:39:51 -0700
From: alice321_2000@yahoo.com
Subject: {FIAPO} Mr. Harris replies to Mr. Myers and Mr. Myers replies to Mr. Harris
To: gardiner@nytimes.com
CC: fiapo@googlegroups.com; nytimes@nytimes.com
Mr. Harris…you seem to deliberately resist acknowledging the main point that has been made in my correspondence to you and the points made by others…that you are a drama queen who is playing up a real and important subject with insignificant research and inflammatory language like, “millions of Indians,” (source?) “untold numbers of children” (source?)” all attached to “mauled,” another of your pulp-fiction words.
I live in an Indian city of 500,000 people and I’m on top of the statistics that come out of our general hospital concerning dog bites and to my knowledge there has not been a mauling of a person (man, woman or child) in the 12 years I have lived here…some bites, but no maulings. Yes, I have read stories of some terrible cases of dog bites, some that might be fairly classified as “maulings,” but if I play out the numbers in terms of a country with three times the population of the US the numbers are statistically insignificant. Still, one bite, one mauling is deeply regrettable to the person attacked…but so is yelling fire in a packed theater when someone lights a cigarette. Unlike you, I guess I worry about dogs and people and how they might best live together, but that could be just a human thing.
And, by the way, do you mean to imply in your final remark that Americans love their children more than Indians?
J. Myers
From: “Harris, Gardiner” <gardiner@nytimes.com>
To: James Myers <alice321_2000@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 9, 2012 7:47 PM
Subject: Re:
Thank you, Mr Myers. Millions of Indians — including untold numbers of children — are mauled every year by stray dogs. I guess I worry more about children than dogs. But that could be an American thing.
Gardiner Harris
South Asia Correspondent
The New York Times
56 Janpath
New Delhi 110 001
Tel: 91-11-2332-1965
Mobile: +91-98-18-788322
On 09-Aug-2012, at 12:53 PM, “James Myers” <alice321_2000@yahoo.com> wrote:
New York TimesMr. Harris,Following is a copy of the letter I’ve sent to your editor. You can still be a force for good which I’m sure was your intention from the beginning…you have, at this point set back the hard work of hundreds of people that have been working for years to help the relationship between animals and people…more than you might ever know you have given tacit permission to civic administrators to use cruel methods to “control” animals.I hope your staying power on this issue is strong enough for you to help India with this complex problem…one that caring people have been working on for years.Regards,Jim MyersTo the Editor of the NY Times,Sadly, weak journalism. Mr. Harris makes a trip from the most fearful country in the world with a mindset of public menace and comes up with an article that spreads fear with no hint of the great joy Indians and tourists receive from the street animals of India. I’m an American. I came to India when I was 20 in the 60’s and have returned many times and have lived here regularly for the last 14 years. Why has Mr. Harris had such a bad experience on his trip and I have never had a single bad experience with an Indian street dog and I live here, and love the back-alleys because I get to meet so many dogs?Why does the USA with the strongest military power on the planet have the highest percent in the world of its own people in jail? Why is this same country so afraid of its neighbors that it allows military level guns to be owned by its citizens…who, in their fear, use them with such horrible results? What good did US fears of communism do for millions of the innocent civilians in Viet Nam? What have fears of Weapons of Mass Destruction done to Iraq’s citizens?Why should India listen to the fearful voice of Mr. Harris who brings a perspective that is doomed to turn a pimple into a pandemic disease?Mr. Harris, I’m sure there are bad dogs out there as there are bad people…every country has them…you came to India to tell your story of bad dogs…well, look to yourself, look to the collective fear of the “other” that you bring to your problem resolutions. I’m sure you thought you were writing as a responsible journalist.but you didn’t, you have written like an arsonist.Mr. Harris you are human…hopefully your views are up for re-examination…but shame on the NY Times for not knowing the difference between fearless journalism and fear-mongering.Jim Myers
