From: "L. Todd Masco" <cactus@bb.com>
Date: Wed, 3 Aug 94 19:18:07 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: clarification please
In-Reply-To: <9408032116.AA19332@ralph.sybgate.sybase.com>
Message-ID: <199408040221.WAA12343@bb.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Jamie Lawrence writes:
 > At  4:35 PM 08/03/94 -0400, L. Todd Masco wrote:
 > 
 > >It's really not so different than the War On Some Drugs or half a dozen
 > > other power-plays... and this is the propaganda machine that we will have
 > > to face if we're unlucky enough that Clinton/Gore actual get their act
 > > together enough and get the rest of the government behind them to make a
 > > real PR effort (as opposed to the clumsy scare tactics we've soon so far).
 > 
 > I understand what you are saying, but it is fascinating
 > that Clinton gets (by inplication) blamed for Iraq and
 > the war on drugs, when those are both Republican creations.[...]

Make no mistake: I'm blaming Clinton for neither the War On Some Drugs,
 the Persian Gulf massacre, nor the Waco massacre.  Government controls
 all that it can and grows however it's able: it's the nature of governments.
 It doesn't matter what control freak is at the helm, they'll use whatever
 means are available to control the world and the nation.  This is why we
 have a Bill Of Rights.  It is also why the Bill Of Rights in is tatters.

One of the most insidious details is that you usually can't point to one
 person and say "it's their fault."  Everyone is "just doing their job."

I'm one of those who sees no fundamental difference between the Republicrats
 and the Democans.  Their rhetoric is different, but all they want in the
 end is for everybody to behave they believe is right: they have no respect
 for the freedom of diversity in beliefs that it is at the core of America.

What is important for us to observe is the methods that they use to control
 us and for us to figure out how to undermine these methods as well as we
 are able.

The nets themselves are a good start: without centralized communications,
 it's more difficult to tell people what to think.  Strong crypto for
 everyone added to the nets is a good step, too: especially when you can
 authenticate sources according to an information "web of trust" (IE,
 I'd trust something Noam Chomski recommended over something Dorothy
 Denning recommended).
--
L. Todd Masco  |  Bibliobytes books on computer, on any UNIX host with e-mail
cactus@bb.com  | "Information wants to be free, but authors want to be paid."