... The Committee says that the policy of having bomb shelters, or "life boats," "would full you into a false sense of security," and "would cause undue alarm." It is not possible for these effects to coexist since they are opposites. I would be interested to find out which the Committee really thinks would happen.

The Committee says, "In the event of being struck by an iceberg . . . the 'life' boats would certainly sink along with the ship." This is, of course, untrue. Fallout shelters outside the blast area would not be destroyed.

Items 7 and 8 on the Committee's list say that we shall die when we emerge from our shelters. Perhaps I am wrong, but I believed that after a period of two weeks to one month the air was once again possible to live in.

Item 9 says, "If you should be rescued by a passing vessel, you would spend a life of remorse mourning over your lost loved ones." Does the Committee really believe that it is better to die than to live in sadness? Does it believe that it is better to destroy our people, and along with them our beliefs and ideals, than to try to save part of the nation we have worked so long to build? It is impossible to take such a viewpoint seriously.

The panic mentioned in item 10 would occurs only if there were not enough "life boats" to go around. By trying to cut down on the number of shelters, SANE becomes a strong agent for the very bestiality it condemns.

But suddenly I see item II. I have been trapped. I have contemplated the catastrophe, and therefore I "obviously" must advocate it (although the Committee assures me that it "shares my concern.") The Committee here believes that it is better to deliberately blind oneself, to live in a dream world, rather than face reality and attempt to deal with it.

After the TITANIC sank, a folk song was written about the disaster. The chorus goes something like this.

"Wasn't it sad when that great ship went down?

Husbands and wives, little children lost their lives.

Wasn't it sad when that great ship went down?"

After all, the very ideas of life boats was absurd. The Titanic was unsinkable. I am sure the few lucky survivors of that disaster would be most impressed with the Committee's views.   William Holden Clafin '65.   David Griffiths '64   Tod Gitlin '63