Fact checking

[Damian Gerow]

Thus spake Pete Capelli (pcapelli at ieee.org) [26/04/04 16:01]:
: > Yes, that's exactly what he said:
: >
: >     <http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue5_10/wiggins/>
: >
: > That's not saying that he invented the internet, it's saying that he took
: > initiative in creating it.  Two very different things.
: 
: Now take it in context.  Do you really believe that he didn't want people to
: think he was instrumental from the beginning (since he created it) in the
: Internet?  Or that he was simply another GC, working off an architects
: plans?
: 
: I think people took it the right way the first time.  Sure, I agree its
: importance is way overblown; I mean, name one politician who *hasn't* taken
: credit for someone else's work.  But don't be an apologist.  If he wants to
: run for president, he's got to deal with his record, just like kerry (did I
: or didnt I throw away those medals) or bush (i know those national guard
: records are here somewhere).

Agreed, every politician has their own problems.  I /personally/ don't
believe that Mr. Gore was trying to take credit for 'inventing' the
Internet.  His wording is incredibly vague, and I agree that it could be
taken as him trying to take credit for building up the Internet to the point
it is today.

But he'd have to be *incredibly* stupid to actually believe that he could
get away with claiming he invented something that existed (albeit in various
forms) years previous.

My problem lays in the fact that not one person (save Gore himself) can
verifiably know what Gores intentions were with that statement.  The way he
phrased the statement is tricky, and leaves it pretty open to
interpretation.  But I hold fast that he was /not/ saying he invented the
Internet.

Anyhow, I wasn't trying to get into a debate over what he said, although I
guess that was unavoidable.  I'm not trying to apologize for what he's said,
nor am I trying to make excuses.  If he's going to live in the public eye,
he's got to either maintain an impeccable character, or suffer its flaws.

My problem was that the statement /is/ vague, and the vagueness was then
translated into 'inventing the Internet'.  Which, again, isn't really all
that true.  Had sunder said, "Al 'Creating The Internet' Gore", that would
have been spot on, and I'd have chuckled.  But he didn't, so it wasn't, so I
didn't.

: > I took initiative in building a house.  That's not saying that I built it,
: > it's saying that I approved the blueprints, paid the builders, and would
: > check on things every once in a while, to make sure they weren't going too
: > far astray.
: 
: Yeah, he was in there on John Postel's CC: list for RFC evaluations.

No, nor was I there for the developing of the blueprints, nor the chopping
of the trees, nor the mixing of the mortar.  But I still took initiative in
building the house.  Just as Gore took initiative in creating -- or rather,
helping to create, or helping to fund the creation of -- the Internet.

At this point, I concede that there's no way to tell the truth, and that
continued discussion can't really progress anywhere.  Al Gore munged his
words*, and paid the price.  End of story, and at this point, it doesn't much
matter what he really meant -- he's still not the president, nor will he
ever be.

  - Damian

* = More than this once, I might add.