Kosovo Coverage Clouded by Apathy and Laziness

To the editors:

I am writing in regard to two pieces that appeared recently in The Crimson. As a student hoping to pursue a career in journalism and as a human being who has long followed the situation in the Balkans, I feel it is necessary to comment upon the manner in which this issue has been treated by The Crimson.

My first comment is in connection with "Students React to Bombings" (News, March 26). The obvious flaw in the piece was that none of the students interviewed were of Serbian descent, although there are several undergraduates at the College who are from Serbia. While I reluctantly support the NATO military action, I am severely distressed to see that the Serbian perspective was not at all represented.

I am even more disturbed, however, by "War Comes to Kosovo" (Opinion, March 26). Never mind that the war in Kosovo started in February of 1998, and thus came to the region over a year ago; I know editors usually compose headlines, so this cannot be held against the author.

But the content of the article itself was truly disturbing. The article seemed to make two main points. First, that for one who lacks any significant knowledge of the situation in Kosovo, a moral judgment of any kind is impossible and second, that the outcome of the war will be the result of an aggregate of the individual decisions of thousands of ordinary people ("It [the war] will be fought and decided, as war has always been fought and decided: town by town, hill by hill and house by house.").

If Simon DeDeo is saying that one should not pass moral judgment on the situation in Kosovo without familiarity with the facts, then I wholeheartedly agree. But instead of urging people to learn about Kosovo so that may make an informed moral choice, he simply throws up his hands and implies that judgment is impossible or irrelevant.

Regarding the point about the war being decided by ordinary people, if he means that ordinary people are the victims of policies inflicted on them from above and that they are deserving of our sympathy, I would again wholeheartedly agree. He adds that the decisions of NATO's military commanders will have no effect on what happens.

And by saying that the outcome of the war will be decided on a house by house basis, he seems to imply that no leader, not even Slobodan Milosevic himself, can have a major effect on what happens.

The piece recites a litany of atrocities committed in Kosovo, quoting them verbatim from a human rights report, without any explanation or interpretation. This does nothing to inform, enrage or sadden readers; it is instead a list of foreign-sounding names and places that would mean nothing to most readers. It merely perpetuates confusion and feeds a sense of helplessness at the apparent complexity of the situation.