X-Message-Number: 7385 From: (Thomas Donaldson) Subject: Re: CryoNet #7374 - #7380 Date: Mon, 30 Dec 1996 13:44:13 -0800 (PST) To Mr. Merel: Peter, you prove my case when you assume that uneducated (ie. illiterate?) people are not wise. I have been fortunate to have known uneducated and illiterate people --- and did not find them either unintelligent or unwise. What other evidence can you claim to provide? Just become someone by circumstance is illiterate does not mean they lack understanding of issues that concern themselves... they may, in fact, have much more understanding than that of those who barge in claiming to help them. Yes, IN A DEVELOPED COUNTRY, there will be a correlation between illiteracy and intelligence. But we're not speaking of such countries, are we? For that matter, in developed countries only a small fraction of the population is illiterate and I doubt that they would cause a problem. And I'm sure that you can find lots of names which agree with you. That's not the real point here. From my own personal experience, I think that the idea you are pushing does no more than show the arrogance of many Westerners toward all other groups, and their totally unjustified belief that their judgement of how these people ought to live will always be correct. And naturally, you will not be able to read any arguments against this idea from those who are illiterate and uneducated. That proves nothing, as you should see. Best and long long life to everyone, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=7385