From: Blanc <blancw@cnw.com>
Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 15:20:22 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: The Natives Are Getting Restless (was Wine Politics Again!)
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970522000739.00709ce0@cnw.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Attila T. Hun wrote:

>    as for the great fairweather liberal bigot Blanc's passing it off 
>    as tcm's drunken ramblings, I doubt it.  war is hell, and 
>    "innocents" get wasted --but, a society at war has no innocents.  
>    blow 'em all away.  scorched earth is inadequate; burnt earth is 
>    more effective. if there are no prisoners, there are no 
>    complainers.
...............................................................


If we were out in the field, you'd get fragged for calling me that.  <g>

If this society is at war, it is a Civil War, fighting against itself.   In
fact, there are many groups fighting against each other, on many different
levels:  racial, gender-based, religious, economic, philosophical, not to
leave out political.    Companies are fighting each other "tooth & nail"
for survival in marketing turfs, races are still exchanging vicious barbs,
homosexuals are under verbal & physical attack by the socially "normed",
the poor still envy & disparage the rich, women & children seem more than
ever to be at risk to attacks from roving sex perverts, the liberals would
love to put the libertarians under, religious groups lecture against the
moral depravity of all those "other" people, and half the country is either
stocking up for a National Disaster or forming into militia groups or other
Think Tanks to fight some sort of government encroachment (even the health
food stores where I shop are always posting sign-up sheets to vote against
something or another the government wants to ban or some right-of-choice
that is being threatened by proposed legislation).  

There are little battles raging on all around us, not only the fight for
privacy-by-encryption which you all are aware of.   Some cpunks have stated
that "society doesn't know or care what is happening".   Some of youall
don't know the kinds of battles or other people/groups are having, either
with government or with some opposing members of this same society.   There
is a lot of information out in the world competing for attention and
resources - on the net, on the intranet, in the TV, in the newspapers, in
magazines, in major newsletters, local newspapers, in posting on kiosks
("Get the US out of Nicaragua! " (sure, when I have a few free minutes and
a couple of extra bucks")).  

How can one keep up with/contribute to all of these?    So many times, I
will happen to read accounts of people who have got into trouble of some
kind, or down on their luck (they lost their job and don't have skills,
they need a heart transplant, they got jailed by mistake, the car
dealership gave them a bum deal), and they decide that society  doesn't
really know what is happening and complain that it is unsympathetic and
lament "when will society wake up and realize that something needs to be
done", etc..   Well, jeez, there's only so much time to spend on everybody
else's problems. 

All these people with their problems would like everyone one else to be
aware of their plight and sympathetic to their rights and to contribute to
their cause, and get disturbed about being "marginalized".  As far as I'm
concerned, everyone is "marginalized".   But people are behaving as
expected:   the Waco religious group acted as expected, the BATF acted as
expected; government employees behave as expected.   The cpunks, who know
so much about government, in particular the NSA & certain luminaries
related to privacy&encryption, should expect that things will go on as they
do - even if they bomb D.C. out of existence.   And this is because,
apparently,  people of this type & kind simply haven't evolved enough to
expect anything different.

Now, crypto was supposed to allow for the possibility of not having to deal
with these people directly;  it was supposed to usher in the new
technological era whereby one could "route around" and generally avoid
messing with Government Mongers, from negotiating for the right to breathe
on one's own Maintenance Schedule.   

Well, so much for an anarchic life of Independent Means.  I must say, from
the posts I've been reading these past several days, I haven't seen very
imaginative ideas for dealing with the problems which dull governments
create.   It is typical of dull governments that when pressed to the wall
they resort to desperate, mediocre ways of dealing with problems - like
obfuscation, exaggerated charges of evil intent, physical violence; all
signs of a limited intellectual capacity for coming to terms with the facts
of reality  (the problems they face as Protectors of Goodness & Justice
(tm) ).   

I would have expected newer, more creative ("evolved") ideas from
scientists, mathematicians, physicists, computer-savvy members.   

    ..
Blanc
    ..
Blanc