Re: utter exasperation

Michael Lorrey (retroman@tpk.net)
Tue, 08 Apr 1997 12:19:16 -0400


Lee Daniel Crocker wrote:
>
> > Given that this is the accepted and long-standing usage among
> > practitioners of sf, ...
>
> As much as I might have shown some pride in calling myself a hacker in
> 1980 when the term was coined to mean an honorable explorer of the limits
> of computer capability, the fact is that to the real world hacker=criminal,
> and as much as I lament the word's original meaning having been lost,
> there ain't a snowball's chance in hell it's coming back. In the real
> world, sci-fi means science fiction--nothing more, nothing less--and
> always will. If there's a distinction to be made, we need to give up on
> this one, get over it, and move on.

Just as much that the term "Gun owner" is equated with criminal,
terrorist, murderer, fascist, etc. It shouldn't surprise you that the
liberal media/government successfully tars both groups with the same
brush since they both tend to be made up of white males. In todays
reactionary politics, the socialist/mercantilists play upon the fears of
the "oppressed" majority, using stereotypical prejudiced opinions of
people who tend to take responsibility for themselves by those who care
not to do so, and are thus oppressed by the socialist/mercantilists,
using the lone white male as a scapegoat, much like Hitler scapegoated
jews.

>
> Unless of course, like those who still use "hacker" in the old sense,
> one is doing so precisely to avoid open communication but as an ego-
> stroking device for an exclusive community.
>

-- 
TANSTAAFL!!!
			Michael Lorrey
------------------------------------------------------------
mailto:retroman@tpk.net		Inventor of the Lorrey Drive
Agent Lorrey@ThePentagon.com
Silo_1013@ThePentagon.com	http://www.tpk.net/~retroman/

Mikey's Animatronic Factory My Own Nuclear Espionage Agency (MONEA) MIKEYMAS(tm): The New Internet Holiday Transhumans of New Hampshire (>HNH) ------------------------------------------------------------ #!/usr/local/bin/perl-0777---export-a-crypto-system-sig-RC4-3-lines-PERL @k=unpack('C*',pack('H*',shift));for(@t=@s=0..255){$y=($k[$_%@k]+$s[$x=$_ ]+$y)%256;&S}$x=$y=0;for(unpack('C*',<>)){$x++;$y=($s[$x%=256]+$y)%256; &S;print pack(C,$_^=$s[($s[$x]+$s[$y])%256])}sub S{@s[$x,$y]=@s[$y,$x]}