Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!dsinc!ub!galileo.cc.rochester.edu!rochester!yamauchi From: yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu (Brian Yamauchi) Newsgroups: sci.space Subject: Re: Fred's Operatic Death Message-ID: Date: 18 Jun 91 05:15:21 GMT References: <1991Jun14.083756.1@vf.jsc.nasa.gov> <1991Jun17.055344.8332@sequent.com> <0094A42A.866932C0@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU> <1991Jun17.222205.15504@sequent.com> Sender: yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu (Brian Yamauchi) Organization: University of Rochester Lines: 44 In-Reply-To: szabo@sequent.com's message of 17 Jun 91 22:22:05 GMT Nntp-Posting-Host: heron.cs.rochester.edu In article <1991Jun17.222205.15504@sequent.com> szabo@sequent.com writes: >In article <0094A42A.866932C0@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU> sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney) writes: [ referring to a post from a JSC employee ] >>He pays taxes too. >From his paycheck which is 100% funded by the IRS, he pays perhaps >30% back to the IRS. BFD. I said his pro-astronaut posts were >"self-serving" and they are; they serve to provide revenue for the >paychecks of himself, his boss, and his co-workers at JSC. The same cannot >be said for my postings. My employer sells computers to voluntary >purchasers. I do not derive revenue from any of the subjects discussed. >Of course he has a right to his self-serving propaganda; I also have >a right to point it out for what it is. You assume that he's supporting the manned space program because he works for NASA. Have you considered that the converse may be true? Perhaps he works for NASA because he believes in the manned space program. Whether he's right or not is a completely different issue, but I think it's unfair to denigrate all pro-NASA posts from NASA employees as "self-serving propaganda." Usenet is not (yet) a major focus of political power in this country. Most people who post to the net do not believe their posts will have a major effect on national policy. I believe that NASA employees who post their opinions are simply expressing their personal views and not attempting Machiavellian political maneuvers. While I think it would be senseless to accept their opinions as fact simply because "they're the experts", I think it's equally senseless to discard their opinions as propaganda simply because "they're paid by the IRS". Their arguments, like anyone else's, should be weighed on the merits of the views expressed, and not upon the identity of the poster's employer. -- _______________________________________________________________________________ Brian Yamauchi University of Rochester yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu Department of Computer Science _______________________________________________________________________________