X-Message-Number: 27161
Date: Sat, 1 Oct 2005 11:27:03 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: The need for someone to disapprove of
References: <>

I suggest that the difference between Despress and the rest
of the cryonics community is so small as to seem negligible.

Consider his activities. He has been raising money for
technologies that don't exist yet, promoting himself for a
job in which he has no applicable experience, exaggerating
his prior accomplishments, and promoting a web page which
largely consists of wishful thinking. I have seen all of
these things in cryonics on a regular basis; the only
difference is that Despres is pursuing his goals more
blatantly, with less intelligence, and slightly fewer
scruples.

It's especially amusing to see Kennita Watson adopting a
tone of offended dignity and disapproval toward Despres.
Watson was absolutely determined to promote cryonics in
an annual freak show at which the whole subject of
cryopreservation is ridiculed for the mass media. And now
*she* is suddenly concerned about the respectability of the
field?

Give me a break. Despres is functioning as a magnifying
mirror for people who apparently do not realize how they
appear to the rest of the world. They are horrified by the
self-image, and blame the mirror instead of blaming
themselves.

People need other people whom they can disapprove of. This
creates problems in a subculture which is ridiculed by
"normal" society. (I have visited many such subcultures,
ranging from science-fiction fandom in the 1960s to New York
sadomasochists in the 1980s.) How can the members of a really
unpopular subculture satisfy their need to feel superior to
someone else, when the rest of the world has already rejected
them? The answer, of course, is simple: Find a whipping boy
who is marginally less defensible, and pick on him.

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=27161