Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!triceratops.cis.ohio-state.edu!karl
From: karl@triceratops.cis.ohio-state.edu (Karl Kleinpaste)
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: Re: Is the news media really that stupid?
Summary: I most certainly do think so
Message-ID: 
Date: 9 Dec 88 22:41:37 GMT
References: <33065@bbn.COM> <4355@pbhyf.PacBell.COM> <5999@hoptoad.uucp> <1942@sigma.UUCP> <6023@hoptoad.uucp> <885@hdr.UUCP>
Sender: news@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
Organization: OSU
Lines: 41
In-reply-to: eric@hdr.UUCP's message of 9 Dec 88 15:33:25 GMT

eric@hdr.UUCP (Eric J. Johnson) writes:
   Allegedly the mass media is disseminating incorrect information about 
   various electronic communications media (USENET and bulletin boards
   included.)  Let's sit back a moment and think of potential reasons
   why they would do such a thing...

       One: Ignorance.  News professionals do not know about USENET
   and bulletin boards, and if they did, they couldn't understand them anyway.

   Computer professionals often flatter themselves into thinking that 
   they hold some special 'magical' ability to understand the uses of their
   computers that 'mere mortals' could not possible achieve. 

When the Internet worm was making the rounds in the first week of
November (we were not infected, but stayed very much on top of things
just in case), people on our staff were interviewed numerous times by
various media entities.  With a lone exception, every single one was
badly, horribly done.  The technical content, even reduced to what Joe
SubAverage Computer-NonUser can cope with, was a semantic null.

A particularly objectionable flaw to me was that the Columbus Dispatch
printed a front-page, half-page story w/photograph...of CompuServe.
CompuServe is not on the Internet, never has been.  CompuServe runs
DEC-[12]0's, which were not susceptible to the worm.  They run TOPS,
which was not susceptible to the worm.  The photo was of their machine
room.  The article dealt with passive Macintosh viruses.  Completely
missed the point of an active, aggressive worm such as the Internet
was suffering.  They (CompuServe) went to great pains to describe just
how "safe" they were from anything of the style of the Internet worm.

The temptation to create such a worm and unleash on it CompuServe
itself is extremely strong.  The only things preventing me from
actually doing so are ethics and a certain fear of legal consequences.
More of the former than the latter; I am confident that I could hide
my malevolence sufficiently well that I could not be traced.

What a load of crap.  The media are consummately ignorant, stupid, and
irresponsible in that they positively flaunt their ignorance and
stupidity.

--Karl