Don't slight charitable contributions
Elliot Ratzman, your letter in the March 29 'Prince' was most unnecessary and unfair. To make such general assumptions about the shallowness of our moral beliefs was inaccurate and degrading. The original article was not intended to win praise for anybody. None of the students that you criticized made any claim to having performed actions that will save the world, nor were we clamoring for a pat on the back. We were merely taking a step in the right direction and promoting thought in the process.
For the record, my monthly $300 is not an allowance from parents, it is earned from a job, like anyone else's income. As you said, that doesn't change the fact that I am still a rich kid who has no concept of what famine is. But your assumption that I am blinded by my dollars and upper-class status is entirely false. I assume, judging by the intensity of your feelings, that you are actively seeking to reform the imbalance of resource and wealth distribution in the world, and other such problems that lead to famine and general inequality. If so, I'm sure you realize that the only way to accomplish anything is to promote education and understanding of your beliefs — which are beliefs I probably share — because only if they are embraced by the general population can significant change occur.
To speak so condescendingly toward the Princeton community in general — and specifically toward those who care enough to read an article and editorial pertaining to our moral obligations — is not the way to bring about change and promote understanding. There is not enough activism on the serious level that you advocate in your letter, which is unfortunate. But action at that level can only start from thoughts stirred up in our daily lives. To denounce those headed in that direction is shortsighted and misguided.
Rest assured that there will be students from Princeton who will go on to take those challenges and bring about the necessary changes. You have turned people off from the important issues at hand and lost credibility for your thoughts by making such false and unfair assumptions about us. I agree that much needs to be done, that I am not yet doing enough myself and that most people also are not. But your assumptions that we are so naive, selfish and shallow are not only false and rude, they are, most importantly, counterproductive. Anders Chen '01
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