[This is ancient. Maybe better is this portal page.]

[This is a very raw second draft]

I see the Internet as a potentially powerful counterbalance to the enormous contemporary *pressure not to think*.

On the Net, this pressure is clearly manifest in *flaming*. Very often, the flamers seem to be people who have no personal stake in the matter, but are simply acting out a role that they think will impress their 'superiors'.

But it's directed at people who've seen thru some part of The Con.

In the media, there are very clear sorts of biases.
These will become worse as media-mergers continue.

Leftwing/rightwing polarisation is a con

There really are two types of people in the world: those who want fairplay, and those who want privilege.

Chomsky is showing very dramatically that the US defines itself as fairplay-oriented when in fact it's the opposite.

The net is inherently adapted to fairplay, so users who want privilege demonstrate very predictable patterns of attack.

aggressive disrespect (ad hominems)
credibility smears
hollow rationalizations

Rationalizations are the achilles heel of the privileged-- they only work when there's no clarity, so the more clarity we can establish, the less power the privileged will be able to maintain.

Responsibility in business
Forging the uncreated conscience of the human race

{{ Full-disclosure capitalism}}

{{ Cut the military, stupid!}}

Chomsky
{alt.fan.noam-chomsky}
WWWeb site archive

Michael Moore
TV Nation
{alt.tv.tv-nation}
A great FAQ

Conspiracy
{alt.conspiracy}
Links to Brian Redman's Conspiracy Nation
Chicago's own Sherman Skolnick seems to me to have a terrible 'batting average' with his predictions

{{ Does the NSA grep Usenet for dissidents?}}

Media one-sidedness

OKC wouldn't have happened if the media had reported Waco responsibly
{alt.current-events.amfb-explosion}
{us.events.ok-explosion}
{{ McVeigh bio}}

Waco

We have to *assume* the BATF fired first. Their patterns of behavior are too sociopathic to accept their testimony on anything.

The full story of how the fire started is still being hidden. Aerial videos shown at the congressional hearings in 1995 showed an "unexplained flare" on the gym-wall as it was torn out by the tank-- exactly the point where Linda Thompson's video claimed the tank had a flamethrower.

Helicopters flying over chimneys as they were that day is a well-known fire hazard.

The trial of the Branch Davidians was the worst sort of government railroad, and those defendants should be released and paid damages.

Questions for Congress About "Waco"

{alt.conspiracy}
{alt.politics.org.fbi}
{alt.politics.org.batf}

{{ Bill Clinton's Strange Fruit}}

Unabomber
{alt.fan.unabomber}
manifesto not 'rambling'
first bomb before Ted was jilted
{{ ted's life}}
{{ cabin contents}}
Redacted: Unabom Researc h Index
Unabomber
Unabomber

MLK assassinated by gov't conspiracy?
Dave Emory's Web Site

The Utne Reader

The sixties
{alt.culture.us.1960s}
The Sixties Project

The Farm
The Farm

Rainbow family

Sojourners
Tikkun
Welcome to Sojourne rs Online

{{ visualizing nuclear terrorism}}

higher education
Board of scholarly ethics investigates complaints
No more ad hominems, no more sophistries
Rewards for clarity and simplicity-- not quantity and obscurity
Conferences held on Netnews
{{ lo tech for educational computing}}

business
Full disclosure of all operations
Full disclosure on all imports

law
Severe punishment for taking bribes
Simplified language