Madam, - Much of what is wrong with this country was summed up in a discussion I had with someone about the vandalising of the Cow Parade sculptures.
"It's the organisers' fault," he declared, "for leaving them out. That was asking for them to be damaged." The organisers' fault? My jaw thunked against the table, as he expanded on his theory of vandalism as a natural urban phenomenon.
This is the argument of people who believe that litter throws itself on to the street, that vomit erupts through the ground, and that bladder control is a breach of human rights.
In other words, it's no one's fault that we live in a filthy country where public order is a casual whatever-you're-having-yourself kind of thing.
I don't blame the Government. A government has to rule by consent, and the fact is that we have all consented to live in this self-inflicted kip.
But other countries aren't like this, because they accept that a nation is shaped by the people who live in it. We still treat our country as if someone else owns it and we're just passing through.- Yours, etc.,
JASON O'MAHONY, Coppinger Glade, Stillorgan, Co Dublin.
Madam, - I was incensed to read about the mindless vandalism inflicted on the Cow Parade by the boorish hordes roaming the streets of Dublin. The original display in Zurich, Switzerland has stood untouched since 1998. This crime is a wake-up call to those who think Dublin is a city that appreciates art. Anything new, anything different, anything that doesn't appeal to the lowest common denominator is destroyed. - Yours, etc.,
DECLAN CASSIDY, Barnaderg, Tuam, Co Galway.