X-Message-Number: 25823 From: "David Pascal" <> Subject: Reply to Kennita Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 01:05:48 -0500 Hi everyone, To reply to Kennita's post the other day: >> I don't know who's involved in the Cryonics Society -- I'll see if >> anyone deigns to respond.<< The Society was founded by businessman, publisher, and publishing consultant Nick Pavlica, who belongs to Alcor, CI, and the Cryonics Society of Canada. David Pascal is a former director of CI, a CI member, and a professional writer and marketing consultant. Other people are involved as well, and we hope to announce an additional officer shortly. Member names are held in confidence, of course, though if members want to mention their affiliation, they should feel free to do so. >> I feel concerned that messages I have seen about the Cryonics Society >> seem to assume an adversarial posture -- that we in cryonics need to >> devote significant resources to countering negative publicity. My >> own view is that what we most need to do is to get the word out -- to >> counter not negative publicity but complete lack of publicity.<< I wouldn't really say that cryonics suffers from a complete lack of publicity. Cryonics has been featured in films from Sleeper to Vanilla Sky. It's gotten major news coverage from the very first publication of Robert Ettinger's The Prospect of Immortality to the Ted Williams incident, it's been mentioned in the New York Times, Scientific American, novels, magazines. Cryonics has been publicized. The question is: why has all this publicity not turned into memberships and support? I think the answer is that the messages the media are putting out are messages that don't produce support. Consider the recent (and unusually favorable) New York Times article, for instance. It was about thirty paragraphs long, but twelve of those paragraphs went out of their way to dwell on neurosuspension, and not in terms likely to appeal to the public, ie, "taking 15 minutes or so to saw off a head - technically a 'cephalic isolation.'" To those in the cryonics movement who understand the rationale behind cephalic isolation, that mention raises no eyebrows. But to people with no background in cryonics, what can the effect be except to push people away? The fact is, if people want to research full and positive information about cryonics, they can do it -- but it's work, and often hard work. They have to make a deliberate active effort to do it. And sadly, most people don't make that kind of effort. All they know about cryonics is what's presented to them in the paper and on TV. And nearly all the messages they receive that way are messages that strike a negative note. I think we in cryonics DO have to devote significant resources to counter negative publicity. Controversial media fallout over various incidents through the years clearly show civil authorities are ready to restrict and even threaten to shut down the operations of cryonics organizations entirely as a direct result of negative publicity. But the Cryonics Society certainly doesn't regard journalists as adversaries. If properly informed and assisted, we view them as potentially our best allies. We can send a positive message about cryonics to the public two ways: we can speak to the public directly, or we can provide accurate information about cryonics to those journalists and media people who speak to the public directly, and let such media people know that a pro-cryonics message is as exciting and attention-getting as a negative one. The Cryonics Society is actively doing both: getting pro-cryonics messages to the public directly via direct mail and email and the Internet, and also contacting and speaking to journalists and providing them with useful and accurate information. >> I see the goals of the Cryonics Society and the Cryonics Advocacy >> Group as being complementary rather than redundant. << I agree. More than that, I would say that every cryonics group, from the major provider organizations to smaller private meeting or support groups should make more of an effort to reach out to the public. We live among people and we have to be able to take our views to them and, ideally, get their respect for what we're trying to achieve. The value of the Cryonics Society, however, is that a single group focused on gaining a tolerant hearing for cryonics can do more than many separate small efforts, worthy though they are. The Cryonics Society's recent mailing effort, for instance, got a positive presentation of cryonics before over ten thousand people. We're currently set to mail another twenty-five thousand people next month, and more after that, if we receive enough funding and support from members of the cryonics community. Smaller groups can't necessarily undertake such efforts, and aren't in the position to deploy professional copywriters and designers to do the most effective job. That's not to say smaller group efforts aren't valuable. Simply that Society efforts can reach further, and do so more effectively. The best way is to support both efforts -- to make personal and local efforts to get the word out and to support larger Cryonics Society outreach programs as well, through membership and contributions. That's why I think the Cryonics Advocacy Group is a good idea and support it -- but also why I've joined, donated to, and work with the Cryonics Society. We should act, whether separately or together. But we can do more together. - David Pascal Public Relations Director The Cryonics Society www.CryonicsSociety.org Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=25823