X-Message-Number: 30241
Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2008 19:20:26 -0800 (PST)
From: david pizer <>
Subject: According to Merkle "We directors are like Godfathers!"
Below I critique Merkle's latest response. Merkle's
original comments have the litte >> in front of them.
As long as Merkle thinks he doesn't have to answer to
anyone but his pals on the board, and least of all to
mere Alcor members, he feels he has the power of a
Godfather. He thinks he is now like Don Vito
Corleone.
--- "Ralph C. Merkle" <> wrote:
> "Bonasera, Bonasera. What have I ever done to make
> you treat me so
> disrespectfully?" Don Vito Corleone, from The
> Godfather
I know Merkle meant this above remark to be funny, but
I think it is a Freudian slip and reveals what the
typical board member feels abount his position as a
director and relations to mere Alcor members is. Make
no mistake about this, as long as they know that they
and only then can re-elect each other they feel not
sense of accountablity to anyone, any patient, any
member who is not another living board member!
If his Godfather attitude isn't bad enough Merkle who
claims to know the scientific method then tells how he
came to the conclusion that the Alcor members don't
want to control their own destiny. He relates the
experiment he did on the subject. Please reread it
below and then let's discuss how accurate this poll
Merkle took might be.
> As one of the "...selfish, egotistical,
> control-freak people who
> refuse to give the power to the members..." :-) I
> should point out
> that this subject came up at the last Alcor
> conference. Members of
> the Board took the stage to answer questions, and
> one of the
> questions was whether Alcor Directors should be
> elected by the members.
>
> After some discussion of this issue by Board
> members, I asked (by
> show of hands) how many people thought we should do
> this. Some hands went up.
>
> Then I asked how many people thought we should
> continue with the
> current system. A *lot* of hands went up.
So here Merkle asks a bunch of members how many want a
change. The members know in advance that neither
Merkle, nor any other board member, is NOT going to
support any change in how board members are elected no
matter how many hands go up. If they raise their hand
saying they are unhappy with the way board members are
elected they know that the board members will see who
they are and their fate with Alcor is sealed and any
chance of them every having any influence will be gone
forever.
First of all a vote on whether the members want change
should be done in an objective way and the membership
should only be asked to vote IF the board first agrees
that if the majority votes to change the way the
directors are elected they (the directors) will then
honor that vote and they will immediately change the
way the directors are elected to reflect the decision
of the poll.
Second, the voting should be done the same way as
Americans vote for things in our country. You write
the vote and put the vote in the ballot box. win loose
or draw - no one knows how you voted.
The way Merkle took his poll the people could not vote
their true feelings because even if they won the issue
the board would not honor their vote and then they
would be known to the board as those who the board has
to watch out for, or get rid of, or whatever.
> I wish I believed there was a single silver bullet
> that would
> magically make the world understand cryonics. My
> perception of the
> situation is that a lot of hard work by a lot of
> people (including
> you, David) has made Alcor what it is today, and
> that a lot more hard
> work by a lot more people is what will keep Alcor
> moving forward.
This is just political rhetoric. It does not address
my point and that is that the lack of accountability
is the reason Alcor has made some many mistakes lately
and is why membership growth is poor and why finances
are poor. The fact that the directors know that they
cannot be removed allows them to not have to be right
every time as you do in a regular business. Because of
that lack of accountability by those who manage Alcor,
Alcor has not done nearly as well as it could have
done if the directors were held accountable.
> Or, as Benjamin Franklin said: "We must all hang
> together, or
> assuredly we shall all hang separately."
More Merklepoop. Merkle asks us all to hang together
as he and only 8 others go into the secret room to
make the decisions and they ask the rest of us 800 or
so Alcor members to "please wait outside." Merkle
wants us to support him and his decisions but he does
not want to give us the vote.
Sound like South Africa in the old days? -- "You
darkies can do the work all the work you want to for
us and pay us all the dues and give us yo donations
money, but you are too stupid to have the vote."
"By the way, you darkies that don't like the way
things are being done now, stand in front of the
machine guns and please raise your hands."
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