X-Message-Number: 27126
Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2005 12:07:21 -0700
From: Olaf Henny <>
Subject: Cryonics & Politics; Thomas Donaldson; Anthony
References: <>

*Tolerance is the crown jewel of wisdom*



Unfortunately not enough people share this little perception of mine, as we can 
see with the intense rejection the issue of gay marriage suffers in today's 
public opinion. The fact, that criminals, dope pushers, child rapists, yes, even
terrorists are also married, does not appear to diminish the value of the union
I have with my wife. But enter homosexuals and the storm of rejection turns 
suddenly fierce. It has simply captured the imagination of certain groups to the
point of creating hysteria about an event, which does not materially affect 
non-gays.


Many believe, that Copernicus was quite capable of performing the calculations 
to underline his theory of the heliocentric world (now planetary-) system, which
Kepler published half a century later, but he wisely refrained from doing so. 
Nevertheless the hardship his creative thinking cost him was significant even 
though. 


We need not be as wise as Copernicus, but simply smart enough to learn from his 
experience.


Large portions of the general public seem to be not just resentful, but outright
frightened by people who think and act outside the box of their accepted 
conventions. And boy, do we ever qualify in that category. Homosexuals represent
about 10% of the population, we are only a couple of thousands in a world 
population of >6 billion, with maybe another 5 or 10 thousand semi-interested 
onlookers.


Like every group of people, cryonicists probably encompass a large spectrum of 
political philosophies, but their average views are probably weighted in 
directions, which do not conform with the opinions of large portions of the 
outside population. 

*And therein lies the danger to us.*


Right now we can be - and are by many - written of as a lunatic fringe, but if 
we spout off political views, which are contrary to those in power, the cause of
cryonics could be in plenty trouble.


It is only natural, that we are tempted to seek confirmation of our views within
our group of friends, our family clan, and our community. But we should not do 
so at the peril of that community.


I am tempted every time I pass a pastry shop, but I resist (most of the time) to
not imperil my health.


By all means be politically active (I am) and help setting a frame work of 
political climate, which is conducive to unimpeded scientific research in 
general and specifically open minded toward cryonics.


As a discussion group, which reaches a much wider audience, than this forum may 
I suggest one sponsored by the Washington Post. It is mostly quite intelligent 
as far as political fora go: 

http://forums.washingtonpost.com/wpforums/messages/ 

To Thomas Donaldson:

"A short reply for Olaf Henny:"


I agree with everything you say in this reply. I just want to add, that neither 
Libertarians nor Socialists were at the top of my list of concerns.

To Anthony:

"But I'm 

wondering if Olaf or Robert could explain exactly how the cryonics community (if
indeed there is one) could be broken up by debate. Partisan positions might 
create some sort of schism - but probably only in terms of a flame-war."


The threat, as I have explained above is not from splintering within the 
cryonics community, but from hostile forces from without, which might feel 
threatened, by political views stated and could be induced to attack CI and 
Alcor by legal as well as physical means. We cannot avoid our 'outside of the 
box' thinking, because that is, what we are all about. But let us avoid taunting
those, who may not agree with the majority of our political views, by 
expressing them here. 


 Content-Type: text/html;

[ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] 

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=27126