[221] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
RE: What can we do?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Alex M. Hochberger)
Fri Apr 27 04:02:18 2001
Message-ID: <1F3774AB3688D4118B1300508BD964151D01AE@CHINA>
From: "Alex M. Hochberger" <alex@feratech.com>
To: "'golem@MIT.EDU'" <golem@MIT.EDU>, mit-talk@MIT.EDU, ifc-talk@MIT.EDU
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2001 04:03:20 -0400
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It was definitely a discussion topic among freshmen that year, huh. The
upperclassmen all had reason to hate it (without reading it), but all the
frosh found it interesting. It was critical of MIT, but laid out compelling
arguements.
Nothing in it was racist or sexist, but people who disagree with their point
of view found it convenient to label them as such.
They were definitely weird, and reading their mailling I was convinced that
there were two extropians :), but it was an interesting read.
However, lambasting them as racist and sexist seems misinformed. Their view
may not be popular, but it didn't appear to be an attempt to insult people
for race and gender.
Alex
-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Laas [mailto:golem@MIT.EDU]
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2001 3:16 AM
To: mit-talk@MIT.EDU; ifc-talk@MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: What can we do?
On 27 Apr, Ray Jones wrote:
> Zhelinrentice L Scott <zlscott@MIT.EDU> writes:
>
>> A few years ago the MIT extropians got in trouble for their
>> mass mailings which degraded minorities and women based on lies.
>
> The Extropians were (procedurally) in the wrong for sending an
> "unapproved" mailing, but I question whether their brochure should
> have been excluded in the first place (particularly in direct
> contradiction to the ASA's recommendation). The fact that the
> administration rejected their pamphlet is quite disturbing, since it
> was almost surely because it expressed views contrary to what the
> administration wanted presented to freshmen.
>
> NB: I haven't seen the packets (the one that did go out, and the
> Extropians') in question. If someone still has them, I'd actually
> like to see what did go out.
I was one freshman who received that packet, though I'm afraid I don't
have it around any more. However, I can tell you that when I read it,
I did not find it in the least racist or sexist --- in fact, they were
attempting to make the point that MIT's affirmative action program
degrades minorities and women by setting a lower bar for their
admission. Although I didn't buy all of their (somewhat extreme and
perhaps naive) arguments, the Extropians' mailing struck me at the time
as one of the very few honestly written and straightforward mailings I
received from MIT --- most of the goop I got was unsufferable
feel-happy-and-be-a-good-little-sheep pap. (I was especially
disappointed with the Tech --- although my opinion of it has improved
since then. I'm not sure whether this is a function of me or it.)
When I actually arrived at MIT and attempted to discuss the mailing
with the people I met there, I was repeatedly shocked by the number of
people with strong feelings about it --- it was commonly reviled as a
racist manifesto --- none of whom had actually read it. I was
disappointed by the credulousness of the average MIT student, but at
least there was a bright side: I started MIT with a great litmus test
for picking out the ignorant people...
--Chris
--
NO, pennies dropped from the top of the Eiffel Tower do not embed
themselves in concrete.
http://www.urbanlegends.com/science/penny_falling_impact.html
______________________________________________________________________
Chris Laas: KB1DEM \ golem@mit.edu (617)225-6522 \ EC, Hayden 507, MIT
