From: andrew@highland.oz.au (Andrew Morton)
Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy,alt.censorship,alt.discrimination,alt.activism
Subject: Re: THE HOAXER PROJECT REPORT (Racist and Anti-Semitic Hoaxes and more!)
Date: 16 Apr 92 01:03:19 GMT
Distribution: world,local
Organization: Highland Logic, Moss Vale, Australia

I have been following the b-cpu wars for a few weeks with
a mixture of amusement and bemusement.  Like (I assume) many
people, I am very curious about this Winston character.
Is he a jackbooted skinhead?  Is he a dispassionate
historical skeptic?   Unlike his detractors, I am
not prepared to place him anywhere on that spectrum
based on what I have seen.

Although my suspicions place him as a clever bigot, my
jury's out.

One thing which I do find very tiresome is the amount
of mindless abuse directed at the b-cpu'ers.  I wish
people would either ignore their output or respond
sensibly to it (many have).

Anyway, in James Lippard's summary of Wilcox's characterisation
of political extremists I was struck by the correlation between
this list and Ralph and his detractors.

I'll probably get in trouble for this, but I simply observe
the following scorecard:

lippard@skyblu.ccit.arizona.edu (James J. Lippard) writes:
: 
: Laird Wilcox is not an alias of Ralph Winston (though, for all I
: know, the reverse could be true--but I doubt it).  He is a researcher
: who *is* the founder of the Wilcox Collection on Contemporary Political
: Movements in the Spencer Library of the University of Kansas.  He has
: compiled several guidebooks to extremist groups:  _Guide to the American
: Right_, _Guide to the American Left_, and _Guide to the American Occult_.
: He has authored a very good article titled "What is Political Extremism?"
: which appeared in _Free Inquiry_ magazine, I believe, in which he
: characterized the behavioral traits of extremist groups as:
: 
:    1. Character assassination

Ralph:      Never
Anti-Ralph: Frequent (Assigning political status where none was given,
                      accusations of posting under a pseudonym, etc)

:    2. Name calling and labeling

Ralph:      Minimal
Anti-Ralph: Shitbrain, dickhead, nazi trash, etc, etc

:    3. Irresponsible sweeping generalizations

Not much on either side.

:    4. Inadequate proof for assertions

Well, proof of assertions is the very substance of this debate.

:    5. Advocacy of double standards

hmm.

:    6. Tendency to view their opponents and critics as essentially evil

Ralph:       I don't think so
Anti-Ralph:  Assuredly

:    7. Manichean worldview

Where's my dictionary?

:    8. Advocacy of some degee of censorship or repression of their
:       opponents and/or critics

Ralph:      No
Anti-Ralph: Enormously

:    9. Tend to identify themselves in terms of who their enemies are:
:       whom they hate and who hates them

Not much of this

:    10. Tendency toward argument by intimidation

Ralph:      Never
Anti-Ralph: Frequent (censorship, removal of connection, etc)

:    11. Use of slogans, buzzwords, and thought-stopping cliches

Ralph:      Don't think so
Anti-Ralph: Nazi trash, Anti-Semite, Racist, etc, etc

:    12. Assumption of moral or other superiority over others

Not really relevant

:    13. Doomsday thinking

Ditto

:    14. Belief that it's okay to do bad things in the service of a "good"
:        cause

Not unless you include censorship.

:    15. Emphasis on emotional responses and, correspondingly, less
:        importance attached to reasoning and logical analysis

Ralph:      Not guilty
Anti-Ralph: Guilty: name calling, mainly.

:    16. Hypersensitivity and vigilance

Ralph:      Nope
Anti-Ralph: Nope: you don't need to be hyper-sensitive to be offended by Ralph.

:    17. Use of supernatural rationale for beliefs and actions

Nope

:    18. Problems tolerating ambiguity and uncertainty

Nope

:    19. Inclination toward "groupthink"

Well, Ralph's argument is that this is so.

:    20. Tendency to personalize hostility

Ralph:      Nope
Anti-Ralph: Pretty clear-cut.

:    21. Extremists often feel that the system is no good unless they win

Ralph:      Guilty!!! Blames PC thinking, media bias, etc for unpopularity
               of his ideas.
Anti-Ralph: Innocent!   (They've won)

-------

Conclusion: It's about time Ralph's detractors calmed down a bit.

Caveat: It's easy for Ralph to win this one, because most of his postings
        consist of one-way transcriptions of other people's essay-style
        writings, rather than real dialogue.

Recommendation: Don't respond to Ralph's pre-potted postings.  Try to
                draw him into real interactive debate/discussion.
Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy,alt.censorship,alt.discrimination,alt.activism,sci.research