Sir - As an American living in Ireland, I have avidly followed the coverage of last week's attacks in the Irish press. The Irish Times in particular has had a range of voices and information that I appreciate. An Irishman's Diary of September 21st, however, left me breathless with dismay.
Kevin Myers extols virtues like such as bravery, duty, and self-sacrifice and, amazingly, claims that these are male. Although there are women doing traditionally male jobs such as fire-fighting and police work, he says, "We know that they are at their most effective when they accept the male hierarchy and male values." These include "a willingness to accept orders within a hierarchy, and do so without question."
When men bond together and act with moral courage, he seems to suggest, they do so despite demeaning attacks from people who suggest that the club of virtue might be opened to a larger membership.
The preposterousness of such statements is staggering. No, some of us don't believe that blindly reproducing male hierarchy is good. We don't think that unquestioning obedience is always good: after all, the hijackers were obedient unto death, and that's what they wanted from the passengers on the planes who disobeyed them so heroically. We don't accept that values and gender are inextricably linked.
We think that some men perform bravely under stress and some women do, too. In fact, we believe that it doesn╣t matter who you are in such circumstances. The point is that some people can rise, beautifully, to such awful occasions. - Yours, etc.,
Meg Harper, St Clare's Avenue, Cork.