As the World Reels

More on Sarah Palin
I very much enjoyed Sam Harris's comments on Sarah Palin in the Sept. 29 issue. But seriously, what on earth was up with the title "When Atheists Attack"? Sam Harris does not even mention his lack of faith, let alone attempt to argue against faith generally. So what does the title have to do with the comments he does make? A person of any faith or none could have written that essay. Atheists are not the only people who are concerned about having a person of Palin's religious disposition in the White House, nor should they be. What Harris offered was a concerned warning about putting a dangerously inexperienced and overconfident person in a position of incredible power. What your headline seems to imply is that he's merely ranting about having a theistic candidate for the vice presidency.

Gretchen Koch
Aarhus, Denmark

Sam Harris seems to attribute Sarah Palin's popularity to the anti-elitism psychology in America as he questions her competence and experience to lead the nation to the right track in this "age of turbulence." Moreover, he portrays her as an ignorant and insensitive figure and uses a surgical analogy. However, unlike neurosurgery, there is no specific training for being a president. It does not make sense that the smartest or the most experienced guy deserves the presidency mostly because at the end of the day, what counts is not necessarily experience or intellectual ability. In retrospect, Nixon was definitely more experienced than Kennedy during the 1960 campaign, but the final winner proved to be an outstanding leader in his short presidency. Kennedy was once the hope of America and now Obama is lauded as the hope of a nation. Along those same lines, why wouldn't easygoing Palin bring hope back to people and restore their confidence?

Wang Wei
Singapore

In referring to the list of problems in the world in general and in the United States in particular, Sam Harris concedes that Sarah Palin "does not seem competent even to rank these items in order of importance, much less address any one of them." He forgets one small, but important detail: Sarah Palin is, among other things, quite an effective hunter. And hunters have that acute ability when taking aim, to take their time and think very carefully about what they are doing. A good hunter will never pull the trigger of his or her respected rifle before considering every possible outcome of their shot, intended or unintended. If I had to choose, I would prefer a proven hunter have the code for the nuclear missiles of the United States, not just "some elite from the upper office" who, not being an experienced hunter, never will have a clue about the outcome their shot will cause.

Hannes Deetlefs
Lütisburg-Station, Switzerland