X-Message-Number: 23790 From: "Trygve B.Bauge" <> Subject: Media coverage, and acceptance and success for cryonics. Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 00:05:39 +0200 The success of cryonics is not merely a question of developing a workable and affordable technology, It is also a question of winning respect morally/ethically and politically. If we are able to establish widespread moral and political support, then that would make it easier to develop the technology as well: e.g. more people would be motivated, and involved, and more manpower and ressources would be focused on solving the technological questions, and less resources would have to be used on scrambling to defend against attacks. ----------- The problems that Alcor, C.I, and the Stumb facility presently face, are not because cryonics suddenly has come on the map. As a matter of fact most media and most people have known about cryonics since the late nineteen sixties. Most have just been indifferent, or covered or heard about cryonics sporadically. What we are experiencing is not that people suddenly have become aware of cryonics, but that some people after the Ted Williams case, suddenly are engaged in a kind of hostile attack or stampede. E.g. more people engaged negatively at the same time. Though most people might still be indifferent to cryonics, it doesn't take that many people to start a stampede, and the harm done by a few government officials might easily turn into an avalanche of small transgressions that ad up to great harm for the victims. Such stampedes are rarely preplanned or any conspiracy, it is just the way small harmfull incidents easily add up to great transgressions, at least in a free society. In unfree societies purges of minorities might be more deliberate preplanned and sinister. Sudden widespread populistic hostile attacks are well known historically. There was some kind of stampede over red apples (and alar) some years ago, progroms against the jews are another example, historically. A lot of grapes too were destroyed one year when US customs officers suddenly found one box of poisened grapes among literally thousands of other boxes. How they happened to come upon the one needle in the haystack without testing boxes systematically might however, be a sign of something sinister. Anyway no other boxes seemed to have been poiseneed but import stopped up and lots of people lost a lot of money. The apples didn't seem to be that poisenous anyway, and no other grapes either, but a lot of harm can be done until reason finally prevails. Such widespread hostile attacks or stampedes seem only to appear against groups that are small, and that most people seem to be indifferent to anyway, Thus the importance of rainbow coalitions of smaller groups to assist one another against sudden widespread hostile publicity. INSURANCE AND REASSURANCE AGREEMENTS TOO WOULD BE QUITE HELPFUL, TO LIMIT AND SPREAD THE RISK AROUND. Respect for private property and universal unalienable rights, a written constitution that enumerates individual rights and includes checks and balances to secure that the majority or any other source of power can't easily and suddenly wipe out other peoples rights, is another means to protect against populistic stampedes. Such means as a senate or upper house that is not reelected as often as the lower house or house of representatives, and thus is not as easily influenced by sudden popular scares OR GOVERNMENT CRUSADES, would usually stop the worst transgressions, and let calmer heads prevail. However it requires rule by law, and that no rights can be taken away but by new legislature also signed by the upper house. And of course the senators would have to take the time to read and debate the law before voting on it, something they apparently were scared into not doing in the case of the Patriot act. The anthrax in the letters to a few congressmen, and the lack of integrity of the senate by letting itself be scared into not doing its constitutional duty to properly check and balance other parts of the government, and suddenly a lot of rights are destroyed. The anthrax scare certainly came in handy for those that had prepared the patriot bill apparently upfront of 9-11 and wanted it passed. It is amazing that the anthrax used apparenly was of a kind in its time developed at a us military lab. An independent supreme court guarding against unconstitutional legislature, and legal foundations like ACLU, are also important. Anyway I am saying that even the best systems of checks and balances can fail. Particularly in time of war and terror, and during sudden hostile stampedes against minorities. So are we all doomed to this Russian rulett with our lives, liberty, property and aspirations? Or what can we do to better defend cryonics against this. Well it doesn't help to hide, or just sit calm, because we are still visible. What would help though is to form coalitions with other groups, so that the general public and the media won't be indifferent to us when we do come under attack, something we are bound to come under every so often independent of what we do or not do. JOINING THE LOCAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND EACH YEAR HOSTING ONE OF THE MONTHLY BUSINESS AFTER HOURS MIGHT BE ONE MEANS OF BUILDING SUPPORT. ORGANIZING AN ANNUAL FESTIVAL MIGHT BE ANOTHER. DOING SOMETHING VALUABLE IN THE COMMUNITY THAT BECOMES A TRADITION, AND THAT GETS WIDESPREAD POSITIVE MEDIA COVERAGE EACH YEAR, AND YEAR AFTER YEAR FROM THE SAME MEDIA OUTLETS, IS PROBABLY THE BEST. My point is that sudden hostile stampedes are rarely rational, and that those attacked are rarely attacked for something these did themselves. In a political stampede the victims get attacked for things they are perceived to have done or not done. or you are just run over simply because you came in the way of others suddenly moving around like elephants in a glassware store. Thus it is extremely important to establish a good tradition of repetitive annual positive media coverage for one's group or venture, so that the media and the public will know what you are doing, and be supportive of this, or at least be supportive of you and your rights and be willing to defend you. And repetitive positive annual media coverage, as an annual tradition, that is something cryonics so far only have achieved in Colorado. The worst that can happen is if one become a victim that people get used to victimize, like the jews experienced over the centuries. The antidote however is to build really good relations to the media and to other groups, in your own neigbourhood, city, county, state and country. When people know you, and are used to dealing with you in a friendly positive manner in many aspects of everyday life, then they are not as likely to be ignorant or indifferent when someone attacks you, and more people will stand up and defend you against the attacks you come under. You will still come under unjust attacks as we all do over a life time, but it will be so much easier to fend off the attacks. Sincerely, Trygve Bauge Ps. It doesn't take that many supporters to succeed, since there rarely are that many detractors. It is the media and the general public that it is important to reach, the only danger is when the media and the population are ignorant of or indifferent to what you do, only then can a few detractors cause a stampede. THOSE THAT ARE IGNORANT AND INDIFFERENT CAN EASILY BECOME HOSTILE, THOSE THAT ARE INFORMED AND POSITIVE WILL RARELY BECOME PART OF A STAMPEDE. AND IT IS THE INFORMED AND POSITIVE THAT STOPS THE IGNORANT AND HOSTILE.. Life-Extension Systems, Universal Liberty, The Global Village Project, The Norw. Icebathing Club, Action 88/Residental Assoc. at Hovsetervn. 88 Trygve Bauge, pb. 59 Hovseter, N-0705 Oslo, Norway. Ph(47)22-14-80-78 Visit Trygve's Meta Portal (tm) www.trygve.bauge.com Content-Type: text/html; [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=23790