X-Message-Number: 15266
Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2001 00:01:43 -0500 (EST)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: Hi Bob

Bob sez:

> Debate is a delicate psychological game, the object seldom being to change
> the mind of your X*#! opponent, but to make your points and to influence
> readers or auditors on the margin.

Bob, you are merely confirming my previous assertion: That you see this as
a kind of political exercise. I don't see it that way at all. I have no
political ax to grind. I'm certainly not looking for new members for
CryoCare at this point. All I want to see is a fair description of
research that I feel is important. As a writer by trade, I care a lot
about the dissemination of information, as an end in itself.

> feelings. (I'm not quite sure how to interpret this. Since he has already
> said or clearly implied that I am a fraud, liar, cheat, and thorough-going
> scoundrel, five times that bad would mean--what? A mass murderer or war
> criminal, maybe.)

The worst I suggested is that you were telling a slightly one-sided story
in order to present your organization in a favorable light, while
presenting your competitors in an unfavorable light. You have been doing
this for at least a decade (in my personal experience). Surely you agree?

> permits and inclination urges, I will engage him point by point and the
> readers will make their own judgments.

Point by point? That would be nice. But you still haven't answered my
central point:  Why you chose to omit mention of the most significant
vitrification experiment in the history of cryobiology, when you purported
to present a balanced overview of vitrification. Isn't this rather like
the old Politburo describing the history of powered flight, without
mentioning the Wright Brothers?

--CP

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