X-Message-Number: 5970 Subject: Re: To Brad Templeton and Steve Harris Date: Wed, 20 Mar 1996 13:48:09 -0600 From: Will Dye <> Addressing Brad Templeton, Thomas Donaldson writes in CryoNet message #5967: >[...] If >you think that the US Federal and State governments would try to shut us down, >so much for US Federal and State governments. [...] >[...] All of the opposition you >suggest is temporary and fickle. [...] >[...] >any cryonics society which took your position would raise serious questions >among cryonicists about whether or not its leaders had any intention at all of >trying to preserve those in its care [...] >[...] >By saying what you have just said, you show me that you haven't understood >what we are trying to do. Cryonics is not a game, or some kind of passing fad. >[...] >[...] like someone in a sinking ship who >looks into the lifeboats and worries that he might get grimy [...] >[...] You see trivialities as important and critical issues as trivial. [...] >[...] >I hope that you will someday come to understand [...] >without that understanding you have marked your whole life with futility. >[...] >[...] Unlike YOUR society, cryonicists believe that individuals are important, >and would not willingly sacrifice any individual for something so fleeting >as public approval. [...] >[...] EVERY cryonicist would feel the same on this issue. [...] PLEASE, this sort of flame mail is seriously hampering my efforts to convince my loved ones that cryonics is a sensible medical experiment, not a fringe movement by rabid loonies. Mr. Donaldson is by no means the only one to post flames, so I don't want to sound as though I'm singling him out (come to think of it, most of his posts are excellent; the assisted suicide issue must have hit a nerve). When I approach people about cryonics, the key hurdle has been credibility. I realize that emotions are high because the stakes are high, but PLEASE, the stakes are high enough that we need to exert more self-control. Nothing in Mr. Templeton's posts indicates that he regards cryonics as a game or passing fad. He did not even say that he opposes doctor-assisted suicide, he merely failed to celebrate the recent decision and warned that it may be temporary. There is no benefit in flaming him, much less the entire society. >[...] as someone who actually sued to get that right for >assisted suicide, I will say [...] For me, the key idea is that pre-mortem cryosuspension is not assisted suicide. The current legal definitions may classify it as such, but in the long run, we should correct the legal definitions rather than re-describe cryonics as something that it is not. Yes, I recognize that doctor-assisted suicide can be of benefit in the short run. I'm not saying that a currently terminal patient should never use it. My point is that Mr. Templeton and others (like myself) should not be _flamed_ for failing to embrace cryonics and assisted suicide as a singular, inseparable, unquestionably noble cause. My larger point is that all these matters can, and should be, discussed in a proper manner, not only to avoid the loony-fringe image, but also to facilitate the exchange of ideas. --Will [yes, that's my real name] Dye -- William L. Dye (Will Dye) | It's O.K. to be anal retentive, as long as all | of the anuses that you retain are meticulously -or- | sorted, arranged, categorized, & cross-indexed. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=5970