> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
> Behalf Of Dan Minette>
[snip]
> A positive self image need not be self
> righteousness.
Indeed, but I do see Friedman taking a step too far in that direction.
Perhaps it hasn't been clear enough that, as I wrote in my first and later
responses, I see his essay not as utterly wrong, but "a dangerous line of
thinking." That's a criticism of the article for the direction it points
more than what it says itself. But my words seem to have been taken much
more as a criticism of the literal contents of the essay, rather than as
pointing the great danger of thinking that way. Perhaps I should have been
far more emphatic about that point.
> Indeed, wearing sack cloth and ashes all the time is a form of self
> righteousness too. It probably isn't what you are advocating, but many of
> your posts sound as though it is.
It isn't. And to a large extent, I make the assumption, faulty though it
may be, that the people on this list know enough about me and my
enthusiastic participation in democratic capitalism to know that I know,
first-hand, about the good as well as the bad. For Pete's sake, Bill Gates
used to recommend me to companies developing market strategies -- how much
deeper can one be in capitalism!? When I criticize the media and corporate
excesses, it is only after spending a couple of decades immersed in them at
a strategic level. Perhaps it is an unfortunate limitation of the medium,
but none of us can state our background, beliefs and credentials in every
message. This is a form of publishing in which no one "article" (message)
should be taken alone.
Nick
