spaf@gatech.CSNET (Gene Spafford) (02/03/86)
Please, please STOP posting your "me too" articles about changing the
name of net.columbia! They do not help the issue at all, and they are
only succeeding in adding a lot of volume to the net we don't need.
Let me second the suggestion made by Thomas Cox (benn@sphinx): let's
all cool off for a month and then discuss the idea. Right now it is
too fresh for some to view it with the proper perspective, especially
in regards to the Usenet.
There has been a very valid (in my opinion) argument raised by many
people that we should not name the group after a tragedy, but rather
after the first, triumphant flight. Should there be another disaster
(god(s) forbid), would you want to rename the group yet again? How
would you decide? Let us not forget, certainly, but let us not
institutionalize a tragedy as symbolic of the shuttle program and our
means of reference.
If you really want to express your sense of loss, then write -- but not
to the net. Right now, write out a letter to your Congresscritters and
tell them you don't want the loss to be forgotten. Tell them that not
only should they not penalize the NASA budget for this accident, but
they should increase the amount of money going into space research.
Tell them our future lies more out in space, where the world can be
seen as one whole, rather than in the procurement by our military of
more ways of ending life.
I believe the space shuttle loss to be tragic. The crew members were
all pioneers, and we should all admire their bravery and mourn the loss
of the shuttle and crew. Still, we should all remember that they knew
there were risks associated with their mission, and they still went on
into history. I wonder -- how many of you who bemoan the loss of those
7 experienced grief at the overnight loss of over 20,000 in the
volcanic eruption of a few months ago? How many of you have been
similarly saddened by the loss of thousands of your countrymen in
accidents involving drunk drivers in the last year? How many more than
7 have died in the African drought in the last *week*, or been killed
in places like Afghanistan, Beirut or Cambodia, simply because of their
political or religious beliefs? I wonder what it says about our culture
that it takes a $1.3 billion pyre replayed endless times in slow motion
on our TV screens before we grieve the loss of strangers' lives....
Let us not forget, but neither should we allow ourselves to get too
carried away. Wait a month to put it all in perspective and see if it
seems such a good idea then.
--
Gene "writing furiously" Spafford
The Clouds Project, School of ICS, Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332-0280
CSNet: Spaf @ GATech ARPA: Spaf%GATech.CSNet @ Relay.CS.NET
uucp: ...!{akgua,decvax,hplabs,ihnp4,linus,seismo,ulysses}!gatech!spaf