•
What's News
•
Larry-Edwards.Com
•
|
Readers' Forum #2 |
| Responses to "Opinion: Technophobe Misses the Mark in Blame for Mass Suicide" |
(See also Readers' Forum #1, comments on "Commentary: The Internet and Heaven's Gate Mass Suicide."
|
I just got finished reading your commentary. I think you are dead on.
People have to start taking responsibility for their own actions and stop
trying to find a scapegoat for everything. These people needed something to
believe in and they found it. I'm not saying they are right, but I would
also have to be pretty arrogant to say they are definitely wrong. The
Internet is a way to communicate. It wasn't the cause of this whole thing,
but more of an engine to convey their message to others. We have to stop
blaming heinous acts on inanimate objects. Don't you agree?
— Veronica |
|
I'm afraid I don't have the same reaction that you have, Larry, about the
opinion piece by Richard Rodriguez. I understood his point—which could have been more clearly stated—to be that too many people are looking to cyberspace to provide meaning to their lives. Instead of dealing with the realities of the world—the realities many seek to escape in their westward search for paradise—they take refuge in the imagined worlds that are too easily realized in the anonymous, boundless and
seemingly infinite realms of the Internet.
He does not blame Heaven's Gate on San Diego, California, the West Coast, high technology, the Web or Bill Gates. Rather, he states that people lose themselves in the myths, false promises and superficiality associated with them in order to escape the responsibilities, commitments and devotions that we all owe to other human beings if we, ourselves, are to realize the fullness of our humanity.
Or, as Rodriguez says: — Richard
Richard,
Thanks for responding and taking me to task.
You make good points, I respect your opinion, and I certainly cannot argue with the notion that people lose themselves in myths, false promises and superficiality of many things in this world — not just technology, but the education system, equal rights, the latest fad diet, love, society, life itself. But I think you're giving Rodriguez too much benefit of the doubt.
— Larry Note: To keep these files at reasonable sizes, I have created a separate page for my full response. |
|
Larry,
I couldn't agree with you more. It's insane times like this peppered with insane events such as last week that make it imperative for those with common sense, historical perspective and balanced intelligence to speak out ... and the technology of the Web provides that theater. Thank God.
— Silicon
Valley marketing |
|
Larry...
I think you were too hard on Rodriguez. His piece was a philosophical essay, not a reporting exercise, and I did not read into it that he was blaming San Diego, California, the West Coast, high technology, the Web, or Bill Gates for the suicides. ... — Kurt Barnhart
Kurt,
People are seeking answers to why the Heaven's Gate disciples willingly ended their lives on this planet. Technology and the Internet and "the Age of Bill Gates and Microsoft" are being blamed by some people. If I truly wanted to be bombastic, I would call it a witchhunt.
The question I have is why? Why can't people of Rodriguez's ilk accept that fact that this group of 39 people had beliefs radically different from the majority of the population and due to an astrological phenomenon acted on those beliefs? Period. End of story.
— Larry
(You know what the worst part about this interchange is? I'm actually defending Bill Gates and Microsoft. What a remarkable phenomenon that is in itself!) Note: To keep these files at reasonable sizes, I have created a separate page for my full response to and interchange with Kurt Barnhart. |
|
Larry,
I didn't know anything about the Heaven's Gate cult for the many years it was on the Internet. Now, because of TV, Radio and Newspapers' obsession with the bizarre and spectacular (because it makes them money), I know the history of this cult, its origins, precepts and beliefs. It's the current mass media that's spreading the doctrine of Heaven's Gate, not the Internet. One has to find cult information on the Internet; TV, Radio and Newspapers force that information on all. And what's worse? Killing yourself for a profound belief or standing on the bodies of those that died and selling newspapers or preaching your own philosophies? The suicides are tragic to everyone but those involved. They made their choice. Right or wrong, it's done. Let the living move on. I must say I agree with Ted Turner, who said (loosely) "in a world that's overpopulated, why make such a fuss over a bunch of nuts killing themselves" Callous-yes. True-yup. — Rich Hazelton |
|
I read your opinion, and great scribing it is. Obviously, I never read the
Rodriguez article, and can only glean its content from your reply. How
anyone could possibly take the view that technology could have hastened, let
alone caused the suicide is beyond me. Even harder to understand is why it
was published! Technology is supposed to enable people to become better
informed, entertainment (Star Trek, etc.) to entertain.
There will always be people who get the wrong end of the stick. Technology is rather like power tools, in the wrong hands you can screw up faster. Cults can recruit more widely, weapons can be constructed from the "how two" sections and so on. This is not the fault of the "chip", nor the Net, certainlly not their designers. Sadly the human condition is to take things of great utility and pervert them. Pedophiles, con men, cults all existed before, they now have more tools. Sad reflection on people, really. — Hugo |
|
Dear Larry,
Any attempt to relate mass suicide to the internet is a pitiful grasping at straws.
Although I am no expert on the net, i do know the following: — Ed Davis |
Return to Opinion: Technophobe Misses the Mark in Blame for Mass Suicide
Let me know what you think:
larry@larry-edwards.com
