The intolerant attitude displayed in Bruce Collins' June 26 letter, "A name for indentured servitude," is unfortunately fairly commonplace among Americans. This is no doubt why they have a Patriot Act, have continued to hold prisoners at Guantanamo Bay for years without either indictment or trial, and just happen by mere chance to have obliterated Al Jazeera's media facilities in Baghdad and Kabul.
To answer Collins' question -- why are letters like Brian Clacey's of June 22 ("Give guest workers a set contract") published? -- it's called freedom of expression. If Collins finds Clacey's opinions displeasing, the best thing he can do is refute them with reasoned argument. I am sure that a person of Collins' intelligence is capable of that, so he should kindly get on with it.
The latest anti-democratic spasms in the United States show that, just as in the Communist witch-hunting days of Sen. Joe McCarthy, the institutions of a free society are on a fragile basis in a country that claims to be the land of the free. Those who disagree with me are free to voice their opinions in The Japan Times -- a freedom they should not want to deny to others.
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