"ABDUCTED" from JOHN QUARTERMAN

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: Steven J. Manning [sjmanning () fymc com]
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2008 1:04 PM
To: David Farber
Subject: "ABDUCTED" from JOHN QUARTERMAN

Dear Dave:

For IP if you wish.

The substance of John Quarterman’s email is as relevant, as it is foreboding and positive.  Paradoxical to be sure.  It 
also comes with a minor and gratuitous political comment. “If it bleeds it leads” is not the invention of the present 
administration.  Among the various misdeeds this administration is or can be charged with, that should not be one of 
them.  “Bleeds and leads” likely came about in the immediate heels of the placement of the first ad in a printed paper.

As to living in violent times, or not, we do live in violent times.  His point is well taken.  The necessary math is 
seldom done.  Every violent act reported is one too many.  On the *math* side, there *are* 305 Million of us.  And some 
 2% of the population is thought to be clinically insane.  Or should be......

Most relevant to this venue are the Internet related comments.  With absolute certainty, the Internet is the most 
amazing medium (not business) in the history of mankind.  Its sheer breath, the ability to deliver as much, to as many, 
in essentially a couple blinks of the eye is simply astounding.  Spellbinding.  Inexorably genius.

The reality is, however, that certain content sells soap whereas most does not.  The salacious, foreboding, gruesome – 
the quintessential *other* person slipping on a banana peel – get coverage and attention long before anything positive, 
however relevant or enlightening that might be.  “I got this over the Internet” is seldom followed by a recounting of 
information on global oil politics or on the 36 wars raging in the world, the plight of women in Darfur, or a potential 
medical breakthrough at some obscure institution of higher learning somewhere in the world.  Or the like.

One must feel some ambivalence on the matter.  Good or bad have the same path to distribution to hundreds of millions 
in brief moments in time.  I cannot imagine wanting to police the medium or censor it, but for very specific and 
limited content, such as child pornography.  And even with that, there is the attendant issue of who will be the 
determinant authority on the propriety/morality of any content.  Yes.  I will gladly volunteer for that task, as I 
expect would many of your readers.

To be sure, there is no mechanism to enforce the reading (or not) and even more importantly the comprehension of 
content.  Thus, it is all left to self-policing and family awareness/norms/choices relative to the under aged.

Nor are the purveyors of substance and quality analysis as prevalent as the provocateurs with the sensational and 
frivolous.  Regrettably, genuine substance does not sell sufficient soap.

The bottom line:  Dr. Farber!  You and your constituency please, please keep on writing !!

--

Steven J. Manning

CEO

FYMCorporation          Ctoads LLC

                                    Clean Thoughts On A Dirty Wall™

www.fymc.com<http://www.fymc.com/>            www.ctoads.com<http://www.ctoads.com/>

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sjmanning () fymc com<mailto:sjmanning () fymc com>

Direct Dial:  818.728.1228.151

creative by FYMC®



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