Or you could get back on your medication. On Mon, 3 Aug 1998, Anonymous wrote:

On Sun, 2 Aug 1998, Paul H. Merrill wrote:

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Never has a single missive opened my eyes so thououghly.

First, I had always thought that libertarians were somewhat equivalent to my personal philosophy of Rational Anarchism. Thanks to your pearly prose I now know that libertarians are not rational. I attribute my failure to notice this in the past to the plethora of pseudo-libertarians (like Tim May) that have a brain and can say something beyond "What I want is right and you are wrong".

Second, I now recognize fully the signs of masked inferiority. Any attempt to allow the unwashed masses access to computer technology is met with contempt and belittlement. Personally, I do not fear what others may be able to accomplish if they have a tool that they have the ability to use.

Despite your mentality, I resist the urge to hope that you should learn from practical experience what is apparently eluding you. That would probably take the general form of you being in an automobile accident and getting killed because the idiot who stops to "help" you attempts to do CPR the Hollywood way and tells somebody who actually knows what they're doing that he can handle it.

Because I expect people to have basic knowledge above and beyond clicking a mouse, pushing buttons on a television remote, mixing vinegar and baking soda, and learning CPR by watching Baywatch, I'm suffering from "masked inferiority."

Thank you for opening my eyes, Paul. I will now flush years of higher education down the drain and become like the "common man" so I'm not accused of exhibiting signs of "masked inferiority." When I'm trying to wash mold off my house and make a "jiffy mold remover" by mixing ammonia, chlorine bleach, and a plethora of other things, thereby releasing toxic gasses and quite possibly causing the barrel it was in to explode throwing shrapnel all over the block, I'll claim ignorance.

Or maybe somebody can practice medicine by asking for "fifteen cc's anaprovaline" in emergencies because they heard it on Star Trek.

Or maybe I could use large quantities of butyric acid to scare dogs away from my home. When the neighbors complain, I can claim ignorance. Of course, the area might be uninhabitable for a while. Phew!

After all, ignorance is what is prized in this society. The techies are just somebody to pay when you need them, and make fun of and assault the rest of the time.

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Third, reality has never seemed to be a strong-point with libertarians, but now I see that the disregard for reality an asset in your book. Because the reality is that most of those poor folk out there can't use UNIX. Not won't, can't. Their phobia does not allow it, just as your phobia does not allow you to consider any possible way that they might gain even a fraction of the power of the Information Age that you already have.

So these people now are "victims" of a "phobia" which prevents them from reading documentation and bothering to educate themselves. If you don't want to claim ignorance, claim that you're a victim; it always works these days.

They can gain all the power they want. It's when they walk in with an assault rifle in each hand and start spraying the room randomly with cluelessness-inducing ammo that people get mad.

If in doubt, claim you are a victim of this widespread epidemic known as "phobia of clue."

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Fourth, while I am a whore and will run or build any system that someone is willing to pay me to, I do have my limits. I know longer accept contracts or employment related to the military and intelligence communities. Neither, do I sell my body. I leave that to the wannabe geeks like yourself.

I think you're suffering from denial, Paul, and that you're lashing out at anybody who could be a threat to your business because of masked inferiority.

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Again, Thank you for opening my eyes.

No problem. Don't mention it.