From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Thu Jul 17 2003 - 20:42:38 MDT
Brendan Coffey wrote,
> I'm hesitant to go compiling a list of particular posts I
> think to be the _cause._
I, too, am tired of constantly being asked to give particulars over and
over. Anybody who doesn't see the problem just isn't paying attention
and doesn't want to see it. The archives are there, anybody can find
anything they want to. Nobody should need to ask anybody else to tell
the what has happened in the past.
> There feels, to me, to be a high
> degree of out-of-touchness among extropians on the list.
This also seems very true, and a lot of different people have been
commenting on this lately. Interestingly, they are all coming from
different directions, ascribing different causes, and come from
different political and social backgrounds that are often at odds with
each other. But a lot of people seem to agree that we need to be doing
some sort of reality check. It very well may be that the technology
scandals have made us question technology, the economy has made us
question perpetual growth, terrorism has made us question political
advancement, and the lack of progress has made us question dynamic
optimism (or at least irrational exuberance). Or it may just be that
the flame-wars and personal attacks have made this list so uncomfortable
that people are questioning whether it is worth the effort anymore.
> These are some thoughts. I hope this is useful to people,
> and not perceived as unwarranted criticism. I've definitely
> gotten a fair number of "me-too" offlist responses, so other
> people do feel this way.
I, too, have been flooded with offlist "me-too" responses to a number of
different items that I have posted in the last couple of months. Sadly,
there seems to be a very large and silent contingent that is too afraid
or too tired to speak up, due to the flamewars and personal attacks on
the list. Almost all of the "me-too" messages thank me for speaking up
and explain that the sender prefers to speak off-list rather than on the
list. I have come to question whether any communication here is
possible. It seems that there is more suppression of ideas than
creation of ideas. It seems that more people feel compelled to keep
silent rather than feel compelled to participate.
-- Harvey Newstrom, CISM, CISSP, IAM, IBMCP, GSEC Certified InfoSec Manager, Certified IS Security Pro, NSA-certified InfoSec Assessor, IBM-certified Security Consultant, SANS-cert GSEC <HarveyNewstrom.com> <Newstaff.com>
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