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Re: who ORCHESTRATED the well-timed Wright-wing attack on Obama?! KAST OF STRING
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 05:21:49 -0700
________________________________________ From: Tom Fairlie [tfairlie () frontiernet net] Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 11:12 PM To: David Farber; edyson () edventure com Subject: Re: [IP] Re: who ORCHESTRATED the well-timed Wright-wing attack on Obama?! Shame on you Esther for feeding our palpable public apathy (even unintentionally :-) by taking a current controversy, highlighting two opposite opinions that are both plausible and conspiratorial, and then dismissing the whole thing as "cynical" before any conclusions can be drawn. (Not that any of us outsiders could reasonably draw a conclusion; at least not yet.) This train of thought has prematurely ended every major scandal in my lifetime by preying on our limited attention spans and our natural avoidance of cognitive dissonanace. The plotters of the Kennedy assassinations should have been caught in the 1960s. Iran-contra should have put 10x as many people in jail (permanently and without pardons and for a hell of a lot more than smuggling arms). Whitewater was also just the tip of the iceberg once you understand what was *really* going on in Arkansas during the 80s. Etc., etc. I'm sick and tired (not of you, Esther) of the American culture's reluctance to follow through on anything. Time and time again we bitch and moan about how bad things are, and then none of us (at least statistically) call our representatives, write a letter to the editor, or vote our conscience. Every four years we simply vote for our parties, the candidates with charisma, or, more often than not, the lesser of two evils. It's getting to be almost too late for us, since history is barely taught any longer and the only way to see these corrupt threads is to trace them back through the years, step back, and see the tapestry. Ironically, it's the mainstream mass media that probably has the best chance to save us. They're the only ones that reach enough of an audience to change opinions and make a difference. Perhaps Craig Newmark will step up to this challenge as he once predicted. Tom Fairlie And yes, I take most of my own advice, so I'm not totally hypocritical. ;-) ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Farber" <dave () farber net> To: "ip" <ip () v2 listbox com> Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 6:12 PM Subject: [IP] Re: who ORCHESTRATED the well-timed Wright-wing attack on Obama?! ________________________________________ From: Esther Dyson [edyson () edventure com] Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 7:03 PM To: David Farber; ip Subject: Re: [IP] Re: who ORCHESTRATED the well-timed Wright-wing attack on Obama?! Actually, the Republicans did it, knowing people would believe that Obama did it per the reasoning below. No, wait, the Obama people did it, knowing people would believe the Republicans did it per the reasoning above. What a sad, cynical time we live in! Esther ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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- Re: who ORCHESTRATED the well-timed Wright-wing attack on Obama?! KAST OF STRING David Farber (Apr 30)