Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!hoptoad!amdahl!ames!rutgers!psuvax1!burdvax!bpa!cbmvax!snark!eric From: eric@snark.UUCP Newsgroups: soc.women,talk.politics.misc,alt.flame Subject: MESmith, Larry Lippman and sanity Message-ID: <288@snark.UUCP> Date: Wed, 25-Nov-87 16:16:44 EST Article-I.D.: snark.288 Posted: Wed Nov 25 16:16:44 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 29-Nov-87 20:09:16 EST Organization: Cosmic Karmic Recycling Central Lines: 45 Xref: hoptoad soc.women:13318 talk.politics.misc:9546 alt.flame:802 I have now been attacked three separate times for stating my opinion that MESmith is out of his mind, and I understand there is a fourth one waiting in alt.flame which ought to be good for a chuckle or two. The attackers evidently didn't read my posting very carefully, or else I was less clear than I thought in stating my opinions. For the benefit of anyone else who may be confused, if they care, let me state the following: 1. I do not claim to have medical authority nor an MD's training; my statements are therefore to be considered opinions, at best informed opinions. 2. I do not think MESmith is evil, wrotten, wrong, stupid or a no-good-shit. I *do* think he is a person who, under great stress, has substantially lost contact with consensus reality. 3. I believe there is a lesson here in the evils of sexism -- not the one MESmith and his indignant defenders would have us draw, but a sobering reminder of the costs of anti-female prejudice in the damage it does to people who might otherwise be well-integrated, contributing and even outstanding members of society. MESmith's defenders really amuse me. They rake me over the coals for making "strong statements about a person I've never even met" while implicitly defending his right to scoriate entire *classes* of victims that have never even heard of him -- most libertarians, most USENET sysops, most males. You know, I think I have more respect for MESmith than they do -- *I'm* willing to treat him as though he's responsible for his behavior. Finally, I promise that I will issue a public retraction of my expressed belief that MESmith is a delusional paranoid when he retracts his reiterated claim that he has been deliberately victimized by a nationwide conspiracy of sysops intent on suppressing his freedom of expression. Until that happens, I intend to direct all flames on this topic to /dev/null without replying. [P.S.: My use of male gender pronouns for MESmith is intended to respect "his" expressed wishes, but should not be taken as an endorsement of "his" socio-semantic theories.] -- Eric S. Raymond UUCP: {{seismo,ihnp4,rutgers}!cbmvax,sdcrdcf!burdvax,vu-vlsi}!snark!eric Post: 22 South Warren Avenue, Malvern, PA 19355 Phone: (215)-296-5718