randy, please be kind enough to apply your analysis below to the attack by Vint Cerf on Milton Meuller and Barbara Simmons of the ACM for daring to sit down and break bread with Michael Sondow at the Berlin meeting. I have had now accounts from two persons involved in this donny brook. Since I was on none of the mail lists involved, i would also apprteciate receiving copies of the exchanges from any of the persons who may still have them in their archive files randy bush wrote: >> I must take issue with this view. Nobody should be called loud, just >> because an opposing argument is advanced. > >while literally true, unfortunately there is a serious problem hidden >nearby. > >politics is the art of influencing the decision-making process. when the >method of making one's point actually offends the convincee, one fatally >obscures the point and has lost at the starting gate. this is trivially >obvious. > >more subtly but far more importantly, it makes it significantly harder for >folk with more political skill to advance similar positions. i.e. it not >only poisons the screamer but often poisons the reasonable part(s) of the >screamer's position. this is not smart. > >but it makes a wonderful tactic for the opposing side, encourage (and/or >subsidize) screamers whose views you do not support. they muddy the entire >process while they sabotage their own positions, a double win! > >randy **************************************************************** The COOK Report on Internet Index to seven years of the COOK Report 431 Greenway Ave, Ewing, NJ 08618 USA Exec summaries, glossary etc (609) 882-2572 (phone & fax) http://cookreport.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] What's Behind ICANN and How it Will Impact the Future of the Internet http://cookreport.com/icannregulate.shtml ****************************************************************
