oaf@mit-vax.UUCP (Oded Feingold) (03/22/86)
>Your characterization that we are somehow responsible for poverty because >we have created wealth ourselves is typical of the leftist/socialist >tactics of mis-information and deliberate falsehood. :-| (Bob Bickford) 1. Where does Mr. Bickford or anyone else get off accusing leftist/socialist groups of being more misinformative and de- liberately false than their opponents? I can understand some- one who lies to people in order to get money out of them, or cooperation in anything from building a weapon system to en- slaving the next country over for the good of the local deity: It rests on the belief that humans are stupid and untrustwor- thy, deserving neither love nor respect. More pragmatically, social inertia is so great, and communication bandwidth so low, that even with the best of intentions a leader has no hope of achieving consensus on major actions in time to be meaningful. Also, leaders are expected to be the exceptional members of a community, whether they're selected for their in- telligence, energy, humanism, distinguished bloodline, parano- ia, ruthlessness or greed -- they're there because they desire to and do exceed the social norm. Society follows at least partly blindly. There is scope for undetected lies, whether with good or bad intentions. Also for unintentional ones. 2. On net.politics, nothing ever gets accomplished. This is merely a discussion group, yet people constantly accuse others of lying. Why bother? If you lie, why? If you merely accuse others, but are as pure as snow (he said acidly,) what do you think those guys are trying to do? Is it personal pride, not to lose an argument? A higher "truth?" Are you on retainer? What? In a sense, we are each others' peers: What does it say about our relationship with our colleagues, and ourselves, to engage in this class of bickering? Hey WIMP, what ya got in that lunchbox? (E. Meese) Once upon a time, we were poor enough that I sometimes went to school without breakfast. I would never, _ever_, cut out money from school lunches. The difference they make to a hungry child is sorta like not having the flu. In fact, I'll go further: Reagan may oppose them be- cause he's either a heartless bastard or a demented old man without any empathy - I don't know. Reagan's advisors, without senility as an excuse, rank right up there with people who like to drop little chicks in milk bottles and squoosh 'em with sticks. [An NFL football player of the 1970s used to do that, in order to get up for games.] To prove my seriousness, I'd support a higher tax rate if the mar- gin were turned to purposes like that. [Don't applaud - throw money.] We just bought a new disk. Flames to me. -- Oded Feingold MIT AI Lab. 545 Tech Square Cambridge, Mass. 02139 OAF%OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA {harvard, ihnp4!mit-eddie}!mit-vax!oaf 617-253-8598