From: Greg Broiles <gbroiles@netbox.com>
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 08:02:40 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: "writing code"
Message-ID: <3.0.2.32.19970624160027.00962e40@mail.io.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain




I think that "cypherpunks write code" is best understood with an added
layer of abstraction, e.g., "cypherpunks change the things that bother
them." So I think that "cypherpunks write memes" can be a useful strategy.

But I think it's important to pay attention to which memes are written - do
you mean "Write your Congressperson about this horrible problem!" or "Fuck
the government, fix your own problem(s)!"? Many of the exhortations to the
public consist mostly of "Hey! Get involved! Vote!", even where this
passive "voting" stuff created the very problems which led to the
exhortations. 

Sure, let's write memes. But let's write memes that encourage people to
solve their own problems and avoid the use of unnecessary force. The mess
that Congress is making out of crypto policy and export control should
provide a crystal-clear example of what we're likely to get if we expect
Washington - or local legislatures - to fix our problems. Next year
Congress will probably fuck with E-mail and spam legislation the way it's
screwing up crypto this year. In 1999, they'll have found something else. 

(Also, FYI, there was an implied :) smiley at the end of my message about
three-strikes term limits. It's a cute idea, but I bring it up mostly to
illustrate how pathetic and weak contemporary political thought is - we're
ending up with a legal system which consists of crap like that, announced
at press conferences full of various sympathetic "victims", hosted & funded
by lobbyists paid for by prison-guard unions.) 
 
--
Greg Broiles                | US crypto export control policy in a nutshell:
gbroiles@netbox.com         | 
http://www.io.com/~gbroiles | Export jobs, not crypto.