Dear Editor

...With a text declared a priori lo be incrratil, no argument is necessary...

...Howe admits that his coming South African revolution "will nol be pretty to watch or to read about," but he adds, "ihe same could have been said of the American or French or Russian or Algerian revolutions...

...I fell that in laking as "given" a text like thai of Exodus, which is full of miracles and describes events of which we have no confirmation from other sources, Wallzer was making illegitimate use for present political purposes of elements that have Ihe emotional weight I hey do because of I heir pari in the Passover story...

...He must take equally into account the other acts of God in that narrative and be governed by them, even if they contradict his views and values...

...Los Angeles Wayne Scott...

...We have nothing else to go on...

...It may be true, as Howe (quoting civil rights lawyer Bartle Bull) insists, that the basic interests of that country's whites and blacks are so "incompatible as to make a violent future more acceptable to them than submitting to the central demands of the other side...

...Robert Gorham Davis South Africa Russell Warren Howe's article, "Facing the Inevitable in South Africa" (NL, August 12-26), greatly disturbed me...

...Potter's remarks, however, introduced by "Yet,'' seem to suggest disagreement between us...

...At great peril to our ideas or future do we ignore relevant data which does not help us make our case, which contradicts our conclusions...

...In truth, every charge that can be hurled at the Pretoria regime will also be brought against "Azania," the black-ruled nation demanded by the African National Congress (ANC), should it ever get its way...

...Is this too not racism...

...Consequently citing selectively the views of a celebrated figure of the past simply because they agree with our current views should carry no weight unless his arguments and evidence are compelling at the present time and unless the citer fully reproduces those arguments, in which case the authority of the name is hardly necessary...

...He is right in his evaluation of the last two, yet we would surely all be better off if they had never occurred...

...The "ignore" sounds cynical...

...Cambridge, Mass...

...What's more, although South Africa may be a "Trojan horse for the Soviet Union" (as Howe puts it), Moscow's interests will not suffer with the ANC in charge...

...There is one exception, where the name carries supposedly irresistible weight, which is why I approached Waltzer's book as I did...

...If The New Leader welcomes comment and criticism on any of its features, but letters should not exceed 300 words...

...It made me feel even more strongly that Waltzer, whose abilities I admire, was carrying out a useless exercise where contemporary politics are concerned...

...Yes, 1 know lhat cerlain local Tories were exiled to Canada, but I here were relatively few of lliem, and none were killed...

...I accept his point as completely well taken...

...Very partial citations from that text, therefore, in no way increase the validity of the present views...

...None, I feel, need exist if I may pursue his argument a little further...

...Not to speak of the harm to Truth itself, if such there be...

...As Potter's letter observed with three telling examples, much-quoted persons can hold views that are wrong, unwise and immoral...

...What I say refers equally, of course, to liberal Christians when they quote the New Testament...

...they have this weight because they aie acts of God, then not Waltzer or any other commentator has the right to be selective...

...No one doubts, for example, thai South African society is racist...

...Certainly we should study the past as objectively as possible to decide the best course to follow in the future...

...But Howe concedes that "Azania" would probably drive oui all Europeans, as well as most Eurafricans and Asians— an assessment lhat is only too plausible in view of recent African attacks on Indians...

...He says after the "Yet" that "Waltzer merely followed the course that must always be taken by anyone who wants to use old texts—or, indeed, the past itself—to support modern conclusions: He stressed whatever helped him make his case and ignored anything that did not...

...We are therefore entitled to ask him to prove this—and he does not...

...If, on the other hand, Waltzer selects the events in the Exodus story that he does because they are acceptable retroactively to liberal Jews and rejects or ignores those that are not, obviously it is the present views which have the authority and determine what is agreeable even in a sacred text...

...Howe's reasons for pulling ihe American Revolution on his list cannot be easily imagined...

...South Africa is not democratic, but its institutions are certainly less repressive than those in the lands to the north, which the ANC would almost certainly emulate...

...Often, of course, our distinguished predecessors put things better than we can...

...If so, however, can it also be true that "members of the radical Left and the conservative Right [in South Africa] are rescued from irrelevance only by each other...

...Often the knowledge does not help very much, despite Santayana's celebrated remark that the penalty of not knowing history is having to repeat it...

...Cautious Marxists in the Soviet Union followed I his practice too...

...that is the chief reason for quoting them...

...That is when God himself is speaking, directly or through a prophet...

...Dear Editor Selective Citations After a lifetime of quoting and citing, I found my attitude toward past authorities dramatically simplified and clarified by Edward Potter's letter ("Dear Editor," NL, July 1-15) commenting on my review of Michael Waltzer's Exodus and Revolution...

...In the light of their situation and ours we must examine what eminent figures did and said and with what consequences, since we have the advantage of knowing how things turned out...

...Further, Howe's belief that the establishment of a revolutionary black state is inevitable appears to rest on the idea that it, and it alone, would serve the "self-interest" of the Africans...

...If both the writer and his audience believe that an ancient text represents in its entirety the word or will of God, as Orthodox Jews do the Torah and Christian Fundamentalists (he Bible, then it is sufficient simply to cite any passage lo give apparent validity to one's opinions...