1995-07-20 - Re: cypherpunk “Zen” victories

Header Data

From: Mike Calligaro <mikecal@microsoft.com>
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Message Hash: 9a4eb6e12ce46b0a16076297052ef20dd766825008582c8b20a1374d18bac6be
Message ID: <9507201945.AA24257@netmail2.microsoft.com>
Reply To: N/A
UTC Datetime: 1995-07-20 19:09:40 UTC
Raw Date: Thu, 20 Jul 95 12:09:40 PDT

Raw message

From: Mike Calligaro <mikecal@microsoft.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 95 12:09:40 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: cypherpunk "Zen" victories
Message-ID: <9507201945.AA24257@netmail2.microsoft.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


<Though I'm not on the list, I read Cypherpunks through the extreme 
filter of a friend who forwards all the good stuff to me.>

Vladimir's post was very good.  I only take issue with the last bit.

<<So the next time that you rant about how some bill or another
means the Death of the Net, or the police investigating a remailer
means the downfall of cryptoanarchy, or a lousy article with a
zillion distortions comes out, think again. The greatest cypherpunk
victories are emerging through what would appear at first to be the
"blackest" moments.>>

So long as you remember that when these things come out we still need 
to scream and yell about them.  The Rimm Job is not a victory simply 
because Rimm was crazy.  It's a victory because many people took the 
time to criticize it and many others took the time to inform the masses 
of that criticism.

These attacks may go in our favor, so long as we direct them in the 
right direction.  There's something Zen in that as well.  Don't punch 
your charging opponent.  Instead misdirect hir energy a bit and let hir 
run into that wall behind you...







Thread