From: Tony Hollick (anduril@cix.compulink.co.uk)
Date: Sun Nov 23 1997 - 09:53:00 MST
In-Reply-To: <199711230401.UAA23404@well.com>
Whoahh!!! The horse is nearly out of the barn... Hold it...
John K. Clark writes:
>
> There are two different types of crackpots. the amusing and the vicious.
John Clark fails to notice that he does first what he then accuses me of.
I tell the truth, and document it, and argue critically and rationally.
John responds to good-faith writings by a 'veritable vocabulary of
denigration' -- trying to label people as 'crackpot' and so on; and
his only purpose in doing so is an ad hominem abuse of hypotheses
and indeed _facts_ which he dislikes. He defends orthodoxy.
I take great exception to this -- 'Extropians' is supposed to be an
intelligent 'flame-free' venue... John Clark owes me an apology.
If I flame John, he'll *burn*...
[ FX: "Moderator! Moderator!!!" ] >:-}
[ FX: "These 'ere Extropian 'moderators' are as much use as a
goddamn pencil lead at Chernobyl..." ] >:-} >:-}
------------------- * * * * * ---------------
John Clark tries to labek me dismissively as a 'crackpot': am I?
I tell John Clark (again) that I suffer partial disability from Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder, which I experience due to my defending
what John Clark _professes_ to believe in. At times, it's no fun at
all... Perhaps I shouldn't have bothered, eh? "Never volunteer..."
My most recent clinical psychiatric assessment states:
[A] That I'm a really nice person;
[B] That I'm brilliantly intelligent;
[C] That I'm perfectly sane; (not 'a crackpot' of any kind);
and -- worst of all --
[D] That I suffer tremendous _situational political stress_.
That's why I've applied for _Political Refugee status_ in Canada;
and why my application is being supported by the top level of the
Criminal Intelligence Division. There is no better authentication.
------------------- * * * * * ---------------
"Cet animal est mechant -- quand on l'attaque, il se defend!"
Sure, I'm 'vicious' -- when I'm attacked, I _defend myself_. Gosh!
The 'mind-to-firing' relays [Cordwainer Smith, remember?) can
respond with _devastating retaliatory effect_.
[ FX: <excitedly>: "Show us!!! Go on!!!" Do it again!!!" ]
[ FX: <quietly>: "Make it so." ]
[ FX: "Battle Stations!!! All hands to your Battle Stations!!!" ]
[ FX: "Pinlighting is a hell of a way to earn a living..." ]
> Despite Tony Hollick's attack on the memory of a very great man I honestly
> wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt and put him in the amusing
> category, and when in the middle of a muddled description of quantum mechanics
> he started to rant about flying saucers, false teeth, and electrically powered
> roller skates I thought there was real hope
That's _right_. I'm working to provide us-all with some _hope_.
As General Dan Graham (late Director, the Defense Intelligence
Agency) writes in my -- personally inscribed -- "High Frontier"
Project Book [1982], published under the aegis of the Heritage
Foundation: p. 95, "Economic Effects of Renewed Hope":
'With all the attention devoted in recent years to perceived
scarcities of clean air, clear water, petroleum, natural gas,
strategic materials, investment capital, and government funds, we
have barely noticed that the most critically scarce commodity of all
has been "hope."'
> but then he said this:
>
> "I don't think much of Hawking's ideas. Look what his mind did to his poor
> body... Would you want that to happen to you?"
[ FX: "Impending sense-of-humour failure in Quad L-14!" ]
The genre is 'black humour.' Hawking would appreciate it, I'll bet.
> Suddenly I stopped laughing and knew which category to put Mr. Hollick into.
F**k your 'categories.' Who gave you the right to put other people
in your crummy little 'categories'? If what you think you 'know'
were really so, for all that I know you could be _dead_ by now. >:-}
[ FX: "Show us!!!" ]
[ FX: "Watch the TV news carefully this next week..." ]
Think about it. And please don't be so goddamn humourless next time.
OK?
/ /\ \
--*--<Tony>--*--
Tony Hollick, LightSmith, Warfighter
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/la-agora (LA-Agora Conference)
http://www.agora.demon.co.uk (Agora Home Page, Rainbow Bridge Foundation)
http://www.nwb.net/nwc (NorthWest Coalition Against Malicious Harrassment)
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