Those are great examples. But your writing is so superior that I shouldn't be reading it on the web for free. It should have been in your book.
The counterexamples would include the guys who built videogames into a huge, legitimate industry that drove CPU clock speeds; the Wright brothers & A.I. Root, who was the first to document their achievement (in a beekeeping journal) while Scientific American snubbed their noses at the possibility and practicality of flight; Elon Musk; Chuck Yeager (excellent autobiography); Ronald Reagan; Burt Rutan; Vaclav Havel; the current Pope; Horatio Alger; Steve Wozniak; my Favorite: Jesus of Nazareth; and Robert Metcalf "The difference between a *visionary* and a *crackpot* is that the *visionary* turns out to be right"... On Mon, Jun 2, 2014 at 5:55 AM, Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> wrote: > Kevin O'Malley <[email protected]> wrote: > > It's my understanding that people in high demand in the media get paid for >> their appearances. And they go on lecture tours, where the lecture fees >> paid to them can run into 6 figures per lecture. That's how famous you >> could become. >> > > That sounds like fun! But I have nothing good to say about anyone in the > establishment, so I doubt they will want to hear from me. You can go on Fox > News and attack the New York Times, or vice versa, but if you blame both of > them, neither will host you. > > History shows that people say they want the unvarnished truth, and they > say they like to see the establishment brought down and fools suffer their > comeuppance, but that is not true. > > Sen. William Smith uncovered the facts about the Titanic disaster and > reformed passenger safety. His was attacked by the industry and press, and > to be ridiculed and marginalized in nearly every book on the subject. > > Young British officers showed that the commanders of World War I > squandered millions of lives with frontal attacks. They were vilified and > forgotten, while the generals who ordered the attacks were promoted to the > aristocracy. > > Gen. Billy Mitchell showed that airplanes can sink ships. He was court > martialed for insubordination. > > An NRC field engineer repeatedly warned that Three Mile Island was > vulnerable and that a stuck valve might trigger a catastrophe, because that > nearly happened on two occasions. His superiors in the agency finally > ordered him to shut up and stop filing reports. The valve stuck a third > time, the reactor core melted . . . and he was fired while his superiors > were promoted and given cash awards. > > No one was ever held to account for the fact that Iraq had no WMDs. Colin > Powell wrote that he blames himself but I don't think he or anyone else > lost status or was demoted, in a book titled "It Worked For Me," about > "leadership advice." I gather the title and theme are not intended to be an > ironic joke. > > "'A failure will always be attached to me and my U.N. presentation,' > Powell writes in *It Worked For Me*, a book that provides leadership > advice. 'I am mad mostly at myself for not having smelled the problem. My > instincts failed me.'" > > The people who caused the 2008 market crash were rewarded with billions of > dollars in profits and the biggest taxpayer bailout in history. > (Fortunately, they paid most of the money back.) The banks are bigger than > ever. Some of the people who warned against it were ignored and then blamed. > > - Jed > >
