Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84 SMI; site calma.uucp Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!think!mit-eddie!genrad!decvax!decwrl!sun!calma!smithson From: smithson@calma.uucp (Brian Smithson) Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Re: Re Happy birthday BOMB! Message-ID: <198@calma.uucp> Date: Mon, 29-Jul-85 20:22:21 EDT Article-I.D.: calma.198 Posted: Mon Jul 29 20:22:21 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 1-Aug-85 04:46:21 EDT References: <3229@decwrl.UUCP> Organization: GE/Calma Co., R&D Systems Engineering, Milpitas, CA Lines: 97 > > Thanks for all those cards and letters, pro and con, about my birthday wish > for the bomb. I even liked Mike Huybensz's cute little bounce back about the > British Navy. > > By the way, 40 years is 40 years, ain't it? So if you don't like the bomb > (those that don't) what ya got to replace it to give us ANOTHER 40??? I've > got 'Star Wars' in mind. > > There arndt many liberals left, most having been mugged by now and become > conservative, so the geeks on the net must be little kids still in school who > hang out all hours at the computer center or teckie nerds who put in the odd > hours at the 'pinball game' and keep themselves off the street. > > The only thing they can think of as an alternative to the BOMB or Space > Defense (it'll never fly Orville) is another Children's Crusade. Of course, > as I say, never having had to face the 'mean streets' or people who actually > hate them and want to kill them (so there must not BE such people dear, only > people who might THINK they want to kill us - and all we really need is to > talk to them you see, cause after all they're just like us) can't believe > the atomic (and more) genie is out of the bottle and ain't goin' to go away > by askin' 'pretty please' or throwin' our own away and sayin' 'see we don't > mean no harm, please don't hurt us' but by building a way around them the way > weapons have always be got around from the spear to the longbow to the gun. > > Oh dear, is he actually sayin' 'mean streets' is here to stay? > > Hey, if we could only all learn to play checkers together, what a wonderful > world it would be! Let's send more dancers over there to meet the people, > I'm sure the average New Soviet Man would just love us (rape is more like it) > if only he could meet us. After all, ain't we wonderful and full of good > feelings. Sigh. > > Puke. > > Keep chargin' > > Ken Arndt This sort of simplistic crap is the same crap that got us in to this mess. To answer your question, Ken, 40 years "ain't" 40 years. Since you missed the point of Mr. Huybensz' humor, I'll spell it out for you. OK, get out your history book... Back around the turn of the century, or whenever it was, the invention of the machine gun was supposed to end war. Who would send troops against such assured destruction? Likewise, the submarine was supposed to stop war by ever so effectively patrolling the seas. And the airplane was supposed to stop war by its threatening certain death from the sky. So, Ken, how long did *they* last? Then along came your "birthday" bomb, which, too, was supposed to stop wars. Hmmm ... ever notice that you never hear about "mutually-assured destruction" anymore? The talk now is about "limited nuclear warfare"! Ken, it's not a matter of whether you "like" or "don't like" the bomb anymore -- its just that the destructive force and potential consequences of nuclear detonation are no longer considered to be an adequate deterrent to their use. And so those like you, who have the foresight (and hindsight, for that matter) of a flea, are all behind Star Wars to give us "another 40". Seems like rather strange logic to me -- if the bomb was such a great solution, why do we need something *else* for the next 40!? And what makes you think that it (or we!) will last that long? Perhaps you don't care if Star Wars doesn't last 40 years. Is 20 OK? 10? As long as we have something to top it before "they" do, right? When I hear the term "Star Wars", I think about the Death Star from the movie. Do you think that that would give us 40 more years? So why am I telling you this? You posted it yourself! "...but by building a way around them the way weapons have always be got [sic] around from the spear to the longbow to the gun." Of course, we're not talking about such romantic weapons anymore, Ken. I guess that people like you must think that the world (or at least the good ol' USA) will survive no matter how many sophisticated weapons everyone builds, no matter how devastating their potential is, no matter how prone to error they might be, and no matter how little time is available between error and correction. If, God forbid, a bomb ever falls in your neighborhood, I sincerely hope that you are bent over at the time. Instead of waiting for that, though, I recommend you *really* get a sense of where we're headed. When it becomes clear to you that there is no alternative but to end war entirely, everywhere, forever, I'd bet that you'll spend less time fantasizing about bigger and better weapons, geeks on the net, the "New Soviet Man", etc., and start looking for solutions instead. Quickly. -- -Brian Smithson Calma Company ucbvax!calma!smithson calma!smithson@ucbvax.ARPA "I'd rather YOU were sailing"