Re: J Bell's Moniker (WAS: Re: NYT on CFP)

[jim bell <jimbell@pacifier.com>]

At 12:06 PM 4/2/96 -0500, Mark Aldrich wrote:
>On Mon, 1 Apr 1996, jim bell wrote:

>> Damn!  They keep leaving me out of their short list!  Maybe they meant to 
>> lump me in with the groups they mentioned.  I'm an American, so I can't be a 
>> "foreign spy," and my supply of child pornography is at a constant zero 
>> level.   I'd sure hate to be lumped into an ignominious position with the 
>> "other criminals," however:  What an unimpressive title!
>> 
>> Maybe I'll just have to settle for being called a terrorist. Harrumph!
>
>OK, Jim, I'll take the bait:
>
>What, per chance, _DO_ you want to be called?

What I was trying to suggest, in a suitably humorous way, is the fact that 
the government really isn't concerned about these "bad guys," and in fact is 
(or, ought to be) more worried about technological developments that will 
(and should!) make governing populations increasingly difficult.  It doesn't 
want to admit this, but that's still the truth.  I'm sure they have advisors 
who are telling them what is going to occur, and if they're at all on the 
ball they're desperately working to try to figure out if these eventualities 
can be prevented.  

I don't think they'll be successful, but it is still possible to identify 
many of their efforts such as the Clipper I and Clipper II proposals, both 
of which were abject failures, and the Digital Telephony bill, which despite 
the fact it passed has not been funded, and others.  I view the Leahy bill 
as a somewhat more "realistic" proposal in this series, in the sense that 
they got a bit smarter about their proposals, putting some tasty bait in the 
trap.  It's still a trap.

I was also trying to point out that when the government views just about all 
its enemies as "foreign spies, child pornographers, other criminals and 
terrorists," its task is to fit all the people who are REALLY dangerous to 
it into one of these pre-defined molds.  I am reminded of the saying, "When 
the only tool you have is a hammer, you begin to treat all problems as if 
they are nails."

So I wonder what kind of "nail" I'm going to be.

One last thing:  I don't really know what I'd like to be called, but maybe 
"the last revolutionary" is appropriately melodramatic.  Because what I'm 
promoting will be, literally, the LAST revolution society will ever need.


Jim Bell
jimbell@pacifier.com