From: Phil Karn <karn@qualcomm.com>
Date: Wed, 5 Oct 94 22:16:24 PDT
To: ecarp@netcom.com
Subject: Re: It's MEME time!!!
In-Reply-To: <m0qshr1-0004EcC@khijol.uucp>
Message-ID: <199410060516.WAA17295@servo.qualcomm.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


>> Uh, how come we can't stick to attacking the message, rather than the
>> messenger?

>Because in this case, the messenger is an integral part of the message.

I disagree. How do you react when you see an attack ad on TV. Does it
really want to make you vote for the sponsor? Or does it make you wish
they'd BOTH crawl off and die somewhere? After watching just a little
of the Huffington vs Feinstein Senate campaign here in CA, I know how
*I* feel.

We definitely have the upper hand on this issue. Dorothy Denning may
be a naive pawn of the government. She may hold beliefs that appall
the rest of us. She may have lost whatever credibility she had in the
crypto community by her position. But I still prefer to attack that
position and the (il)logic behind it rather than to resort to
attacking the person expressing it. Especially when the argument
itself is almost a no-brainer.

Phil