From: bill@kean.ucs.mun.ca (Bill Garland)
Subject: Re: MINDWALK - An exercise in Passionate Thought
Organization: Memorial University. St.John's Nfld, Canada
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 12:33:23 GMT

In article <1992Dec18.083556.220@u.washington.edu>, 
joechip@hardy.u.washington.edu (Erich Vandenloos) writes:
> So you say you want to start a discussion thread, eh? Well you may be in for
> more than you bargained for. I accidently saw that benighted film (being
> unaware that it was associated with that crank, Capra), and it was just like
> the stupid book of his I couldn't bring myself to finish. Here's why I 
> loathe and despise Capra and everything he stands for:

Yeah! I finally found someone else who couldn't finish that pile of
mystical nonsense! I was feeling a tad guilty for a while because it
seemed to me that that crap didn't make sense, so what was wrong with
me that I couldn't understand it... I even made excuses like "This is
a book which I try to read a few more pages of every 10 years or so..."

> 1. He is an enemy of science, the Enlightenment in general, and hence by
> extension the enemy of all mankind. He accuses science of being a tool
> for the evil exploiters, ....

So many people have so much envy-hate for businessmen-entrepreneurs.
The must attack it and destroy it to extract values for themselves.

> ...    He is an apologist for superstition, the cheapest
> kinds of mysticism and political ideas which, if put into practice, would
> bring about the end of human society as we know it.

Mystics have been damaging society for a long time.

> 2. If that weren't enough, he tries to use science itself to support his
> views. .....
            ...I'm going to VOMIT!!
> Worse, he apparently used to be some sort of physicist...too many drugs I
> guess.

Or not enough...of the right kind. (Lithium, maybe?)

> 3. He is also a damnable liar, ....

Heavy duty type of statement... I'm not going to touch that.

> 4. He is a money grubbing pig, so far as I can tell doing all this stuff
> to squeeze money out of the scientifically illiterate. Maybe this isn't
> true. Maybe he's stupid. 

Well, he _did_ say that he was living off the generosity of some
rich woman while he was writing his book... He's not stupid, he's
a mystical neocheater... Ah there's that word again...

> 5. But let's be fair. 

No. I don't see how you can really mean that when you follow with :

> .... To hell with Fritjof Capra
> and all his works!
> 
> Putting the screws to Mother Earth,
> 
> Erich Vandenloos

Pretty strong stuff you had bottled up there...much like myself 
yesterday or the day before about the Kirya stuff..crap...

But what I object to from the original post to which you replied
was "let's limit the discussion to those who have seen the movie
or read the book" or  something. (I'm not quoting exactly by %include)

Ha! Limit the discussion indeed. Hardly. To do that you need to
make yourself a moderated newsgroup. This is Usenet, where you
couldn't limit discussions even if there was a good reason to.

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