X-Message-Number: 6855
Date: Sun, 8 Sep 1996 11:19:55 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: Bickering

First, cryonicists have been bickering (just like libertarians, leftwing
activists, or any other small affinity group I can think of) for thirty
years, now. Bickering is tiresome and unconstructive, but I don't see that
it has diminished any cryonics organization's chances of survival, as two 
people have claimed.

Second, interpersonal conflict, often on a very unsavory level, is normal
for almost any organization. Have you never heard of office politics? The
only difference is that most organizations hide their internal strife
while cryonics organizations have been more willing to reveal it. 

Third, this has positive implications for members. In cryonics, what you
see is what you get. There are few secrets here. Just take a slow stroll
through the back issues of CryoNet (especially 3 to 4 years ago) and
you'll see what I mean. I believe the willingness of some principals to
air their feelings in this news group has helped to keep people honest.
It's hard to imagine a cryonics organization methodically trying to cover
something up; indeed, I doubt they would attempt to do so, knowing that
someone would start blabbing about it sooner or later, and it would be all
over CryoNet within a matter of days. 

Fourth, the bickering level on this group is considerably lower than on
most mail lists. The conduct here should be evaluated relative to the
medium that transmits it. The print media maintained by the cryonics
organizations contain virtually no accusations, rebuttals, etc. You will
also find calm technical discussions on alt.cryonics in Usenet, and a lot
of useful material in the various organizations' web pages. 

Fifth, if someone publicly accuses me of something fairly unpleasant (e.g. 
malfeasance leading to the permanent death of a former cryonics patient) I
am going to answer that accusation. I will try to be as calm and factual
as possible, but I *will* answer--unless, of course, the accusation comes
from a widely discredited source and can be ignored as frivolous. 

Sixth, forgive my skepticism, but I find it hard to believe that a
relatively brief exchange of eight or ten pieces of email could change
someone's entire interest in cryonics, especially when the person claims
to have been formerly interested for two years. Surely the contentious
nature of cryonicists should have become clear during that time? And would
the nonsigners really be more reassured if the organizations were more
adept at cover-ups, spin doctoring, and public relations in general?

Note that this letter should not be construed in favor of bickering; I am
merely pointing out that bickering is not necessarily such a strong
negative as has been suggested. There are other factors in cryonics (such
as the money it costs and the physical damage it does) that are vastly
more important. Thus I would suggest that the people complaining about 
bickering are almost as off-topic as the bickerers; but this again is 
fairly common in a mail list or news group online.

--Charles Platt, who does PR for CryoCare


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