Getting attention the old-fashioned way

A second journalist has contacted me for reaction quotes for a story he's
working on about the evolution of the Cypherpunks list, people leaving the
list, and so forth. Presumably Vulis figures in a central way, though this
second journalist did not mention him by name in his short request for
comments.

I sent him a note saying I would not give him such quotes.

Many of you apparently received a letter from another journalist last week
asking for comments for another story, with a mostly-similar theme. There,
Vulis was the obvious focus. (I ignored his letter. The journalist who
mailed me this morning I actually refused with a reply, as he's written
some good pieces in the past. I just won't cater to assisting Vulis in
disrupting the list by giving him more publicity.)

Well, these "stories" prove that a disruptor can get the attention he
craves by shitting all over the list, mailbombing it, referring to list
members as pedophiles and "limp-wristed blonde bitches" (methinks Vulis has
a pretty strong latent fixation, given his constant focus on certain topics
and words).

Sad that journalists cater to this kind of thing. I guess "personality
pieces" are ever so much more popular than technical pieces, or even
careful explications of things like crypto anarchy and the real
implications of the tecnologies we are involved with.

By the way, nothing in this post may be used by any journalist in any
story. Rights are reserved. Readers of this list may read these comments,
but reporters may not quote them. (I'm not sure of the legal status of such
comments, but if they can assert their copyrights for their widely
distributed stuff, why can't I?)

--Tim May




"The government announcement is disastrous," said Jim Bidzos,.."We warned IBM
that the National Security Agency would try to twist their technology."
[NYT, 1996-10-02]
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

>>>>> "Tim" == Timothy C May <tcmay@got.net> writes:

Tim> I sent him a note saying I would not give him such quotes.

I wonder if you're likely to have your refusal to give quotes quoted.

Tim> (methinks Vulis has a pretty strong latent
Tim> fixation, given his constant focus on certain topics and words).

Gee, I figured it was just a weak vocabulary.

Tim> Sad that journalists cater to this kind of thing. I guess
Tim> "personality pieces" are ever so much more popular than technical
Tim> pieces, or even careful explications of things like crypto
Tim> anarchy and the real implications of the tecnologies we are
Tim> involved with.

Sad, yes; surprising, no. It's been my experience that such things are
often dependant on the journalist's audience (i.e., is it a trade rag
like InfoWorld or the National Enquirier?) In any event, journalists
(and/or their publishers) aren't usually noted for doing things that
are interesting or important. Rather, they seem to have a preference
for writing and publishing what will sell. (Just as is the case with
TV talk shows, etc.)

What's worrysome is that the degenerates who concern themselves with
nonsense are numerous enough to make sufficient demand to keep the
mainstream press focused on such trivial matters, allowing more
significant things to go unreported outside of the small circles from
which they've originated.

It reminds me of something I saw on television while waiting for my
car to be serviced last week. A talk show was on (I think Jenny
Jones), and they brought on stage a woman who took her financially
troubled sister in. The man of the house (apparantly they were
unmarried, but had children together) ended up with the sister. During
the course of telling the story, they brought more and more of them
out, until they had all three people there in front of the
audience. Everyone on stage was yelling at each other, the audience
making judgemental comments to the people on the stage. I was
attempting to read, but the volume was so loud I couldn't help but be
distracted. A ridiculous commentary of the pathetic mentality of so
many people. (And some people actually wonder why my geek code
contains "!tv".)

-- 
Matt Curtin  cmcurtin@research.megasoft.com  Megasoft, Inc   Chief Scientist
http://www.research.megasoft.com/people/cmcurtin/   I speak only for myself.
Hacker Security Firewall Crypto PGP Privacy Unix Perl Java Internet Intranet

C Matthew Curtin wrote:
> 
> >>>>> "Tim" == Timothy C May <tcmay@got.net> writes:
> 
> Tim> Sad that journalists cater to this kind of thing. I guess
> Tim> "personality pieces" are ever so much more popular than technical
> Tim> pieces, or even careful explications of things like crypto
> Tim> anarchy and the real implications of the tecnologies we are
> Tim> involved with.
> 
> Sad, yes; surprising, no. It's been my experience that such things are
> often dependant on the journalist's audience (i.e., is it a trade rag
> like InfoWorld or the National Enquirier?)

Or for that matter, the Netly News,
http://pathfinder.com/Netly/daily/961112.html

> In any event, journalists
> (and/or their publishers) aren't usually noted for doing things that
> are interesting or important. Rather, they seem to have a preference
> for writing and publishing what will sell. (Just as is the case with
> TV talk shows, etc.)
> 
> What's worrysome is that the degenerates who concern themselves with
> nonsense are numerous enough to make sufficient demand to keep the
> mainstream press focused on such trivial matters, allowing more
> significant things to go unreported outside of the small circles from
> which they've originated.

I couldn't agree more.

Maybe I should have helped Lewis Koch out. At least he isn't a fucking 
hypocrite.

-rich