From: drt@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Robert Toreki)
Subject: An open letter to Joseph
Summary:  There is no need for lawsuits and angry phone calls
Keywords: trying to end the nuclear flamewar...
	I just received a phone call from Joseph Dunphy in which he
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.
Distribution: world, local
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 23:15:50 GMT

	I post this as an open letter to Mr. Dunphy rather than email since I
am publicly trying to show in good faith that I have no interests in
slandering or libeling Mr. Dunphy.  One of his major concerns throughout this
centers over what he has said about industry.  Mr. Dunphy claims that I said
he told people not to go into industry or that it was a bad career choice. 
And he offers his postings about job opportunities as support.

	I never said that you said "xxxxx".  I read many of your posts because
they touched on some fine topics.  And in several I recalled (perhaps
mistakenly, I don't really know offhand) that you were very negative with
regard to yuppies and others who I think we would all view as being in charge
of many businesses.  I thought it odd that someone who was not keen on such
people would seek to gain employment knowing that he would be confronting such
challenges.  But perhaps you wanted to change the system from within, I don't
really know and can't speak for you.  But you certainly hold some lofty
ideals, so it seemed like a contradiction to me.  So I wrote:

	BTW, what are your career plans, Mr. Dunphy?  Are you going to go into
	business for yourself as you recommend, or are you going to eat all
	your own words and seek gainful employment in academia or 
	business/industry?  

	Yes, I _interpreted_ things you had said, but I never made claim that
you had stated categorically "industry sucks".  And you obviously disagree
with this interpretation, and that is your right.  And it is also your right to
say "No, I am all for industrial positions, you are incorrect."  And I might
then have explained why I said that.  But in posts so long with so many
points, brevity seems to have obscured that.  So instead, here we are caught
up in a battle of semantics. 

I also wrote:

	***** FLAMING FOLLOWUPS BY E_MAIL, PLEASE ******
	      ^^^^^^^
	And that was a sincere request.  I'm sure there are many other things
that peeve you, and we can discuss that in private if you'd like.  But you
raised the stakes by responding in public and defaming my character.  Raising
this whole libel issue does nothing to aid this group or your (our) reputation
here.

	I have no reason to doubt you when you say that you "took the course"
on libel.  Please realize that libel requires that I am portraying you in an
unjust manner.  Which you think I am.  But if you will stop to look at the
other postings in the newsgroup, most people seem to be in agreement with me. 
And I will be more than happy to bring these statements to court, if it
pleases you.

	I again reiterate my request to let ALL THIS DROP.  You leave me out
of your public postings and I will leave you out of mine.  We can still debate
issues without refering to names or previous posts, so there is no need for
anyone to go without sci.research.careers.  I offer an olive branch to you,
Joseph.  Take it and let all this drop behind us.

						Rob

P.S. If you'd like, we could each cancel whatever posts we have outstanding
that involve this whole imbroglio.





Newsgroups: sci.research.careers,fj.sci.physics