> > Bill, that is offensive and calls for an apology. > Allan Atherton
The hell it does, Allen. You may be offended, if you chose, by my reference to some of Al's loonier positions. But it's your choice, and I see no reason for you to apologize for it. I'm offended by Al Gore worship and the applause he's received because he joined the board at Apple. But it's my choice to be offended, and I'm not about to apologize for that either. BTW, the joke is not that Al said he invented the Internet. The real joke is that such a statement is so obviously silly that no-one with a three digit IQ believed it could be seriously said. A verbal faux pas, perhaps, but no more serious than the Saturday Night Live News skit. However, there are a bunch of people who jumped to Al's defense against this "charge," when none was needed, because they assumed that the people passing it on with a smile were simple-minded enough to believe it. So tell me, who should be offended; the person "accused" of saying and meaning something so silly that it's unbelievable, or the person who's accused of believing it? > I have never considered it up-lifting to belittle another person. > > George Yankey Me either, George, but for better or worse, speech that attempts to belittle politicians is an American tradition. Look around and see how some people have attempted to belittle the President since he took office - to their considerable discredit. But rather than belittling Al, I was referring to what I believe to be some of his actual loony positions as loony positions. That's calling it as I see it; describing not belittling. As a politician, he is what he proposes and the only person who can effectively belittle him is himself. How all of this relates to the Mac is that it gives the anti-Mac people a little more emotional ammunition to belittle the platform. And there, we are talking about literal belittling. This is especially frustrating when you consider that Apple has been finally making some in-roads into corporate America with X-serve. I've been a Mac person since March of 1984 and have put a lot of effort into getting Macs into places they otherwise would not have been considered. It's a passion, I've never made a cent from it. And now, it may be a bit tougher to do. So far as I know, among all of the people I know who have demonstrated that they have the smarts and guts to run a successful, substantial business, there are no Al Gore admirers. Bill Holt | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will | be March 25. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>.
