[4977] in Central_America
New quotes for Sat Jul 3
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Central America)
Sat Jul 3 05:32:01 1993
Date: Sat, 3 Jul 93 05:31:51 -0400
From: Central America <root@charon.MIT.EDU>
To: ca-mtg@charon.MIT.EDU
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bamf (David Y Oh):
No Guardrails
The gunning down of abortion doctor David Gunn in Florida last
week shows us how small the barrier has become that separates
civilized from uncivilized behavior in American like. In our time,
the United States suffers every day of the week because there are now
so many marginalized people among us who don't understand the rules,
who don't think that rules of personal or civil conduct apply to them,
who have no notion of self-control. We are the country that has a TV
commercial on all the time that says: "Just do it." Michael Frederick
Griffin just did it.
An anti-abortion protestor of intense emotions, he walked
around behind the Pensacola Women's Medical Services Clinic and pumped
three bullets into the back of Dr. Gunn. Emptied himself, Michael
Griffin then waited for the police to take him away. A remark by his
father-in-law caught our eye: "Now we've got to take care of two
grandchildren."
As the saying goes, there was a time. And indeed, there
really was a time in the United States when life seemed more settled,
when emotions, both private and public, didn't seem to run so
continuously at breakneck speed, splattering one ungodly tragedy after
another across the evening news. How did this happen to the United
States? How, in T.S. Eliot's phrase, did so many become undone?
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We think it is possible to identify the date when the U.S., or
more precisely, when many people within it, began to tip off the
emotional tracks. A lot of people won't like this date, because it
makes their political culture culpable for what has happened. The
date is August 1968, when the Democratic National Convention found
itself sharing Chicago with the street fighters of the anti-Vietnam
war movement.
The real blame here does not lie with the mobs who fought
bloody battles with the hysterical Chicago police. The larger
responsibility falls on the intellectuals -- university professors,
politicians and jounralistic commentators -- who said that the acts
committed by the protesters were justified or explainable. That was
the beginning. After Chicago, the justifications never really
stopped. America had a new culture, for political action and for
personal living.
With great rhetorical firepower, books, magazines, opinion
columns and editorials defended each succeeding act of defiance --
against the war, against university presidents, against corporate
practices, against behavior codes, against dress codes, against
virtually all agents of established authority.
----------------------------------------------------
What in the past had been simply illegal became "civil
disobedience." If you could claim, and it was never too hard to
claim, that your group was engaged in an act of civil disobedience --
taking over a building, preventing a government official from
speaking, bursting into the grounds of a nuclear cooling station,
destroying animal research, desecrating Communion hosts -- the shapers
of opinion would blow right past the broken rules to seek an
understanding of the "dissidents" (in the '60s and '70s) and
"activists" (in the '80s and now).
Concurrently, the personal virtue known as self-restraint was
devalued. In the process, certain rules that for a long time had
governed behavior also became devalued. Whatever esle was going on
here, we were repeatedly lowering the barriers of acceptable political
and personal conduct.
You can argue, as many did and still do, that all this was
necessary because the established order wouldn't respond or change.
But then you still need to account for the nation's simultaneous dive
into extensive social and personal dysfunction. You need to account
for what is happening to those people within the U.S. society who seem
least able to navigate the political and personal torrents that they
become part of, like Michael Griffin.
Those torrents began with the anti-war movement in the 1960s.
Those endless demonstrations, though, were merely one part of a much
deeper shift in American culture --- away from community and family
rules of conduct and toward more autonomy, more personal independence.
As to limits, you set your own.
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The people who provided the theoretical underpinnings for this
shift -- the intellectuals and political leaders who lead the
movement -- did very well, or at least survived. They are born with
large reservoirs of intelligence and psychological strength. The fame
and celebrity help, too.
But for a lot of other people, it hasn't been such an easy
life to sustain. Not exceedingly sophisticated, neither thinkers nor
leaders, never interviewed for their views, they're held together by
faith, friends, fun and, at the margins, by fanaticism. The big
political crackups make the news -- a Michael Griffin or the woman on
trial in Connecticut for the attempted bombing of the CEO of a
surgical device company or the '70s radicals who accidently blew
themselves up in a New York brownstone. But the personal crackups
just float like flotsam through the country's hospitals and streets.
You can see some of them on daytime TV, America's medical museum of
personal autonomy.
--------------------------------------------------------
It may be true that most of the people in Hollywood who did
cocaine survived it, but many of the weaker members of the community
hit the wall. And most of the teenage girls int he Midwest who learn
about the nuances of sex from magazines published by thirtysomething
women in New York will more or less survive, but some continue to end
up as prostitutes on Eighth Avenue. Everyone today seems to know
someone who couldn't handle the turns and went over the side of the
mountain.
These weaker or more vulnerable people, who in different ways
must try to live along life's margins, are among the reasons that a
society erects rules. They're guardrails. It's also true that we
need to distinguish good rules from bad rules and periodically
re-examine old rules. But the broad movement that gained force during
the anti-war years consciously and systematically took down the
guardrails. Incredibly, even judges pitched in. All of them did so
to transform the country's institutions and its code of personal
behavior (abortion for instance).
In a sense, it has been a remarkable political and social
achievement for them. But let's get something straight about the
consequences. If as a society we want to live under conditions of
constant challenge to institutions and limits on personal life, if we
are going to march and fight and litigate over every concievable
grievance, then we should stop crying over all the individual
casualties, because there are going to be a lot of them.
Michael Griffin and Dr. David Gunn are merely two names on a
long list of confrontations and personal catastrophe going back 25
years. That today is the status quo. The alternative is to start
rethinking it.
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belville (Sharon Belville):
The pun o' the day is:
Old cartoonists never die - they just draw their last breath and go into a state of suspended animation.
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ckclark (Calvin Clark):
In many mortal forms I rashly sought
The shadow of that idol of my thought.
And some were fair---but beauty dies away:
Others were wise---but honeyed words betray:
And One was true---oh! why not true to me?
Then, as a hunted deer that could not flee,
I turned upon my thoughts, and stood at bay,
Wounded and weak and panting; the cold day
Trembled, for pity of my strife and pain.
When, like a noon-day dawn, there shone again
Deliverance. One stood on my path who seemed
As like the glorious shape which I had dreamed,
As is the Moon, whose changes ever run
Into themselves, to the eternal Sun;
The cold chaste Moon, the Queen of Heaven's bright isles,
Who makes all beautiful on which she smiles,
That wandering shrine of soft yet icy flame
Which ever is transformed, yet still the same,
And warms not but illumines. Young and fair
As the descended Spirit of that sphere,
She hid me, as the Moon may hide the night
From its own darkness, until all was bright
Between the Heaven and Earth of my calm mind,
And, as a cloud charioted by the wind,
She led me to a cave in that wild place,
And sate beside me, with her downward face
Illumining my slumbers, like the Moon
Waxing and waning o'er Endymion.
And I was laid asleep, spirit and limb,
And all my being became bright or dim
As the Moon's image in a summer sea,
According as she smiled or frowned on me;
And there I lay, within a chaste cold bed:
Alas, I then was nor alive nor dead:---
For at her silver voice came Death and Life,
Unmindful each of their accustomed strife,
Masked like twin babes, a sister and a brother,
The wandering hopes of an abandoned mother,
And through the cavern without wings they flew,
And cried, ``Away, he is not of our crew.''
I wept, and though it be a dream, I weep.
-Shelley, "Epipsychidion", 267-307
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dml (David M LaMacchia):
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Honey, would you still love me if I were burned beyond recognition?"
"I'd love you MORE!"
"My daddy taught me everything I need to know about handling the Fuzz."
-- Friend, minutes before being ticketed for speeding
"I am Ro-Man! You are Hu-Man! I must kill you!"
--Ro-Man, thing from Mars (also Robot Monster)
"I want a HUGE pizza...ok, a large will do."
"Ah-ha! A man of many talents; athlete, soldier, pilot,
statesman...and many names. In France -- Jaques Duval. In Germany --
Friedrich Schmidt. In Canada -- John White. Code name Uriel. A
valuable man, who kept valuabe secrets. A man who shook hands that
shook the world.
Here in the Village he was simply known as Number 6."
Sam: I can't remember why we're here. But I should
never shop for food when I'm hungry or conscious.
Max: I'm enjoying the amusement park quality of the
lunchmeat section!
--Sam & Max, _Beast from the Cereal Aisle_
"And that was what Alai had given him; a gift so sacred even Ender was
not allowed to understand what it meant." --OSC, _Ender's Game_
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dpatrick (David M Patrick):
1st year Ph.D. student, Dept. of Mathematics
Office: 2-251, x3-7566
Address:
Room 307A
305 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 225-9715
I'm not logged in as of Fri Jul 2 13:40:20 EDT 1993
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hch (Hernando Cortina):
I'm in direct contact with many advanced fun CONCEPTS.
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jnrees (Jim Rees):
Gee, I forgot to change this until now.
Wanna SKYDIVE? Call 1-800-SKY-JUMP!!
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jroth (Jakub Roth Maly z Tulechova):
{from system: This user's .plan file is not world-readable}
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jyip (Jason Yip):
Last logout: Fri Jul 2 20:39:19 EDT 1993 from marinara
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kom (Komkit Tukovinit):
{from system: This user's .plan file is not world-readable}
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luigi (Matthew L. Domsch):
**********************************************************************
Matthew L. Domsch Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
530 Beacon St. 545 Technology Square
Boston, MA 02215 Room NE43-731
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 536-3683 home (617) 258-8832 AP Lab
(617) 253-5060 FAX
luigi@athena.mit.edu luigi@ai.mit.edu
**********************************************************************
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sekullbe (Scott E Kullberg):
I've moved for the summer, into what I believe will be my room for the
rest of my sojourn at the Institiute:
Senior House, Atkinson 107
x5-6606
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"Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are
the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence.
From the hour the Pilgrims landed, to the present day, events,
occurances, and tendencies prove that to insure peace, security, and
happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable. Every corner
of this land knows firearms, and more than 99 99/100 percent of them by
their silence indicate they are in safe and sane hands. The very
atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil
interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good. WHEN
FIREARMS GO, ALL GOES - we need them every hour."
--- George Washington, 2nd Session of 1st Congress
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sokoloff (Jim Sokoloff):
Jim last logged out @ Fri Jul 2 18:19:53 EDT 1993 on host bolognese...
Plan? What plan?
------ Phi Delta Theta Social Events for the upcoming weeks ------
Wed Apr 21: 9:30 PM Wed Social-Cake and Cappucino! (Yum)
Fri Apr 23: 9:00 PM Party at the old folks home (Dan, Sean and Jim) (i)
666-9565 for info; come meet Matt Gimre and drink with him
Daniel, Sean and Jim are throwin' an
Ear-Drum-Thumpin'
Tequila-Guzzlin'
On-The-Furniture-Dancin'
In-The-BathTub-Yackin'
Ass-Of-Yourself-Makin'
PARTY! Friday Apr 23, 1993
Sat Apr 24: ?:00 PM Alumni Dinner (i)
Sun Apr 25:12:01 AM Console Jim on becoming an _old man_ (22)
(i) indicates that the event is (roughly) closed and invitations are available.
Other events are "open" to all friends of the house and guests
Any questions, don't call me, call the house number (247-8691) and ask for
Pat Baker or Zack Johnson... Thanks... ---Jim Sokoloff
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starflt (Derrick Kong):
Wages of Sin
Dr. Henry Lyons, a psychiatrist who counsels students at the University
of Florida, said that premarital sex is a sign of mental illness and
usually leads to suicide, drug and alcoholo abuse, or promiscuity.
Fortunately, he said, only a tiny percentage of his patients have
engaged in the practice, and the number is dwindling.
from No Comment
--- End of Central America ---
