Madam, - In today's litigious society, where journalists are wary of committing defamation of character, I am amazed that Mark Steyn regularly defames an entire race with impunity. His anti-Arab views astound me. That this paper readily prints his unbalanced diatribes is even more astounding.
His latest slur (Opinion, October 4th) is to deny the existence of educated Arab men: "If you speak with prominent 'educated' men in many parts of the Arab world, at some point - usually not beyond 40 minutes into the conversation - they say something that is just plain nuts." The implication is that even "educated" Arabs are intellectually lacking.
If Mr Steyn were to apply the same crass generalisations and stereotyping to Jews, he would go hungry. There is no newspaper today that would print such racist, narrow-minded views.
Why, then, is it acceptable for him consistently to demean the Arabs? - Yours, etc.,
DEIRDRE TOBIN,
Castle Avenue,
Dublin 3.