mem (11/16/82)
c
My apologies to you people who are reading this article, which
is directed primarily at John Hevelin. I have been publicly
insulted (I must say that it is most unpleasant), and I feel
that that deserves a public reply.
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I expressed no opinion on Proxmire. I made no indication of my
personal stand on arms reduction. I gave no pro-nuke view. Nor,
importantly, did I give insults (such as "mindless"), use irrelevant
descriptions ("passing wind"), or use obvious sophisms ("knee-jerk").
The phrase "knee-jerk" comes from the involuntary muscle reaction
caused by hitting the tendon just below the knee. It is used to
describe standard reactions to standard stimuli; especially to
statements or actions which are not particularly well thought out.
It refers especially to your whole article, since you reacted to
your own thoughts, and not to what I said.
Name-calling is a technique used when intelligent arguments are
either not to be had, cannot be originated by the name-caller,
or are not expedient. This technique is unfortunately effective.
Humorous but meaningless phrase-turning is used to show the wit
of the person making the remark. It has no other merit.
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If you would care to discuss interpretations of defense-oriented
referendums, I would be happy to do so by mail, following
a public apology from you.
Mark MallettREM@MIT-MC@sri-unix (11/18/82)
From: Robert Elton Maas <REM at MIT-MC> Shouldn't defense-oriented referendums be in ARMS-DISCUSSION instead of in SPACE??