oaf@mit-vax.UUCP (Oded Feingold) (10/08/85)
Let's clear away some small misunderstandings.
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> Silly, OAF? Come, now. Be serious. If they were
> silly, why do you so vehemently oppose me? Why do you not
> offer legitimate refutation, instead of "Ad Hominems?" Is
> it because there are no legitimate refutations to be
> offered? [DON BLACK]
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I said that people accusing you of being unable to read and write,
and behave like a professional, are silly. Surely you cannot argue with
that.
Besides, what makes you think I oppose you? You claim that every
"attack" I write strengthens your case. Aren't you glad for a critical
audience? Where are your referees, if not here? Where will your
message be tested, if not here? Who will point out your slip-ups if not
us? Those guys on the firing ranges, survival camps and prison gangs
are already on your side - why preach to the already converted? That
sharpens no skills. In the past, you even seemed pleased with my
replies:
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> Oded
> Your tome comparing me to a KGB agent was very, very
> good. I really got a chuckle out of it. I'm going to get
> some mileage out of it, too.
> [13 Aug 1985 08:18:32-PDT]
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I aim to please.
> Be grateful. The more I say, the less I have time to do.
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Partly, you provide your own cover, no? Am I ungrateful?
> Besides, while all the attention is drawn to myself, somebody
> else is doing the "dirty work."
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That's almost as good as the real thing, I guess.
>> What a fine alibi, being "too obvious." [Me]
> Yup. Worked well for Hitler, didn't it? Didn't he say
> exactly what he was going to do? It was so ridiculous,
> nobody believed him.
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Absolutely. Wheels within wheels. Beautiful. I really mean that.
> It's relatively easy to change the Date/Time group on an
> E-mail message. It's also relatively easy to change the
> To/From line.
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If you have a reason.
> Go ahead and track me, Oaf. Mail messages leave a trail
> through the systems.
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Nyet, spassibo, I cannot track you. I'd be a fool to try.
[Re Samantha Smith]
> PURELY coincidental, Oaf. Since the report of the DoT
> investigation is a public document, I'm sure anybody with
> any amount of intelligence should be able to see how stupid
> your allegations are.
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You'd know if anyone does - down to the contents of the report, and
what it took to get them there. (Note the mildness of our differences.)
> Samantha was a gleam in her father's eye in 1972, Oaf. Let's
> try 1982 for a little accuracy, something which you are not
> noted for.
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Correction gratefully accepted. I am pleased you read so closely,
and do not resent my typos being exposed. (Nor do I mind the personal
needling. Everyone's usually so damn polite to me.)
> Her little jaunt was quite the propoganda coup, wasn't it?
> Mighty generous of Uncle Yuri, say what?
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"Generous like a fox" comes to mind. [In the background, dying
screams of standard similes going through my private linguistic mangle.]
> What else am I good in, Oaf? Small arms, air assault,
> demolitions, communications, cryptogaphy, sniper tactics,
> armor, crew-serviced weapons, clandestine photography,
> meteorolgy, propoganda, etc. You know, all the good stuff
> an operative should know. (Yes, including ComBloc
> weaponry.)
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I have every faith in you. Always did.
> Besides, why waste such an effort on such a small target?
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You'd know better than I. Given your capabilities, as listed above,
that sounds like an afternoon's work. Lots of remaining vacation time.
> Well, obviously, Oaf, your definition of freedom and my
> definition are two different things. I don't believe you
> know what freedom is.
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Actually, we're not so far apart on that one. Recall an older
message of yours:
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> I suspect basically you are an honest man. I also suspect
> that we agree that the biggest threat to the both of us is
> the Comintern. [Monday, 19 Aug 1985 05:34:52-PDT]
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No argument.
> The price of Liberty is eternal vigilance.
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Again, no argument.
Misunderstandings cleared up yet?
Gentle readers: The next page is in the public service, on a topic
I consider important. Even if you haven't read this far, please look at
it. Thank you.
The common reaction to Donald Black's postings has been an inchoate
desire to silence him, shut him up, make a fool of him, hurt DEC
financially by sending future purchasing decisions elsewhere (and
publicize it), or merely studiously ignore him. We have seen a stream
of messages on that subject, ranging from the most incompetent drivelers
to Chuq Von Rospach himself - quite a spectrum.
But this reaction to unpleasant postings is cowardice in its worst
form, an ostrich reaction to the ugliness and intellectual
distastefulness of life itself. All it accomplishes is to insult
oneself by displaying appalling ignorance of ostrich behavior.
[Actually, they drop down and lay their heads on the ground in tall
grass, thereby becoming virtually invisible on the veldt. They don't
bury their heads, and will run away if their tormentor approaches too
closely.]
How shallow our collective belief in the first amendment. Don Black
by himself is able to make our educated minds reject it in the rush to
escape irritating stimuli. Face it: He has EVERY RIGHT to lie, defame,
denigrate and insult anyone he wants, deny evidence whose
incontrovertibility is as solid as the bones of the dead or the bricks
of the ovens, claim that Mexico is communist, that the Cubans are about
to attack Florida, that the Rothschilds and the Rockefellers sleep with
the Gorbachevs and Ogarkovs, that the UN protects Israel, that English
is the most difficult language, that the US (and Canada??) are the
promised land, Slavs are Jews and the British the sons of Isaac, night
is day, black is white, freedom is slavery, and South Africa a jewel of
light on the dark continent of Uppity Commie Niggers. He ISN'T kidding
when he says "America First, Without Apology." This is the only country
on earth where one can pull that line of shit (not even Canada,) and
don't anybody think he doesn't know it. Nor should anyone fail to
realize that that is our strength, paradoxic though it may seem.
THAT is what freedom is about! Can you doubt his Russian masters
use his ilk to make us regret and despise our hard-won heritage of
liberty? We _cannot_ demand that he "make sense," "face facts," or
"discard prejudice," without selling out our own freedoms as well. He
must be free to do otherwise, until his own efforts ring down the
curtain on the values upon which this country was founded. 209 years is
long enough for such an experiment - now let's get some direction back
into human affairs. If you doubt me, read some Identity Christian
tracts. I'm sure he'll happily send you a few - just write. [Don will
correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure in his heart of hearts he agrees.]
So no complaints about his postings do ANYONE BUT HIM the slightest
bit of good. If we interfere with his freedom to utter them we close
the coffin on our own. If you wish to defeat him, you can ONLY expose
his every lie, every half-truth, every misinterpretation and every false
insinuation. You must show the SAME ENERGY in exposing the truth as
decrying his lies. If you feel personally threatened, sure, you can arm
and guard yourselves against his bully-boys, those bikers and losers and
flotsam and jetsam of this society, ministers of hate and prophets of a
coming Armageddon, with the Jews and the Commies rising up to steal this
land from its true owners. [Presumably that's the Sioux and the
Iroquois, though he may claim different.] But note that knowledge,
communication and organization are more effective than guns and bullets,
even when Don Black shows his cohorts how to get automatic fire from an
AR-15 by modifying the sear to take M-16 clips. [Don, please correct
any errors in mechanical detail. Thank you.]
But duck down into your shells, tell DEC it will cost them if you
must listen to that nasty man, pretend he isn't there (is that how you
treat muggers and rapists, I wonder?) and you will only win the time it
takes to roll you over before they slice your bellies open. Don't ever
think you can shut him up without becoming _just_ _like_ _him_, in which
case he will have won by default.
I am awestruck by Mr. Black's discipline, energy and dedication. He
will beat us by making us discard voluntarily what once made us strong.
He can win without even fighting. THERE is a man! <Bug me with gender
specifics and I'll shootcha all. You have been warned.>
But don't despair. Lest you think you're dealing with the
Terminator, note that the fellow is human after all:
> Mr. Katkov and his associates are just more innocent victims ...
> [3 Oct 85 17:20:54 GMT]
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_Nobody_ but a confederate of Katkov's would call a Soviet diplomat,
whose particular talents would send him to Beirut in late 1985, an
"innocent victim," nor would anyone but a man in the same condition note
that Katkov died without "any mention of his family or hometown." What
truer eulogy than this short but heartfelt tribute to a slain fighter
for the cause, who will never see the final victory?
Appearances to the contrary, he even sees the deeper truths:
> "...in a useless war that can never end."
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Myself, I'd call it a tactical error.
Doesn't Comrade Black agree?
--
Oded Feingold MIT AI Lab. 545 Tech Square Cambridge, Mass. 02139
OAF%OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA {harvard, ihnp4!mit-eddie}!mitvax!oaf 617-253-8598