X-Message-Number: 23721
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 04:20:45 -0800
Subject: Re: Bogus choices (was Re: FDGD Plans)
From: Kennita Watson <>

Tim Freeman <> wrote:
> I don't have a strong opinion about whether Kennita should go to FDGD,

Hey -- is that allowed? ;-)

> but I'd like to point out some bad reasoning here:
>
> "Fred C. Moulton" <> wrote:
>>  Message control and message presentation are critical.
>
> Kennita wrote:
>> That may be true, but if so, I can't say that Alcor or any of
>> the other cryonics organizations has done much to convince me
>> that they have perfected said control or said presentation.
>
> I think Kennita is saying that if the choice were for Alcor to have
> perfect control of their PR or for Kennita to go to FDGD, then Kennita
> must go to FDGD because Alcor doesn't have perfect control of PR.
> However, that's not the choice.

Actually, the choice is for Alcor to have perfect control of
Kennita or for Kennita to go to FDGD ;-).  But that's beside the
point.  The word "perfected" was a not-quite-well-enough
disguised lapse into a sardonic tone arising from my feeling that
Alcor's PR is far less than perfect -- enough less that I feel I
have significant value to add by going to FDGD.
>
> Talking about alternatives that involve perfection or absolutes is
> generally an instance of all-or-nothing thinking.  Bringing up such an
> alternative just to reject it is a straw man argument.

Quite true; it would be.  To turn the argument around, my
detractors seem to demand perfect safety, and reject my plans
to go to FDGD on that basis.
>
>> Not that this will help, but a friend to whom I explained some of
>> this tonight said "Nothing you do could be any worse than the Ted
>> Williams jokes on Jay Leno -- go for it!".  So much for message
>> control :-) .
>
> Once again, the comparison here pertains to a bogus choice.  The
> choice isn't between Kennita going to FDGD or having more Ted Williams
> jokes on Jay Leno.

Actually, to the extent that the comment was meant seriously
at all, it was presenting the choice between taking a risk of
having Ted-williams-type jokes about "Alcor at FDGD" on Jay
Leno or not.  The "go for it!" was an assessment that going
is worth that risk.
>
> The choice is that Kennita either goes to FDGD or not, and if she
> goes, she has a choice about what she does there.
>
Which is where the message and presentation come in.  I'll be
continuing to solicit input on those.  Stay tuned :-) .

Live long and prosper,
Kennita
--
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
none but ourselves can free our minds.
           -- Bob Marley, "Redemption Song"

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