From: Kimberly Dubbs (kimdu16@earthlink.net)
Date: Fri May 31 2002 - 10:23:10 MDT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Osborn" <philosborn2001@yahoo.com>
To: <extropians@extropy.org>
Cc: <philosborn2001@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2002 8:45 PM
Subject: Re: Hidden Agendas? (was: Invisible Friends)
> The point of the 12 paragraph story was that you don't
> have to be offensive, deliberately or accidentally,
> for people with hidden agendas to attempt to score off
> you. There are people and organizations out there who
> actively search for targets, infiltrate organizations,
> and then subvert them via intimidation or other
> strategies.
I doubt the incident in question had anything to do with whether or not your
images were offensive. It didn't seem to have much to do with subversion of
freedom by "politically correct" feminists either.
Frankly Phil, when I read your original post describing your lecture
experience, I was surprised that you were at all shaken. Although we
disagree on some matters, I'd expect you to be a reasonably sharp guy,
especially in a technical forum. It seems that what you faced was no more
than a typical "bottom feeder" attention grab. There are lots of people who
aren't successful--particularly by their own measure. It's been my
experience that such people frequently gravitate toward "isms" and form
high-schoolish cliques with other "ism-obsessed" losers. At events like
technical conferences, a favorite recreation is to bid for some attention by
claiming the speaker has made an unpardonable slur against <fill in the
blank with whatever allegedly oppressed group applies>.
Usually, these people don't have much philosophical depth--any "ism" will
do, as long as it gets them some group acceptance. In a public speaking
situation, if '1' represents the annoying guy with hay fever in the front
row, and '10' represents the incredibly well prepared, eloquent opponent,
you faced about a 2. Adopting a public demeanor that projects social
sophistication is more than adequate to intimidate any nipple-fixated
censors you might encounter in the future.
I think you're in O.C.--if so, there are lots of executive training programs
here that teach the art of projecting social presence. Usually, that's
enough to get you above the sort of petty confrontation you described.
There are plenty of threats to freedom and free-expression in this world,
but the meaningful ones aren't played out by bevies of "feminist" ninnies
like the ones you encountered.
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