Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19991006140606.00c134f8@popmail.mcs.net>
Date: Wed, 06 Oct 1999 14:06:06 -0500
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
From: Aaron Lynch <aaron@mcs.net>
Subject: On silence
In-Reply-To: <005f01bf0fbe$84dde240$0a0a0a0a@icon.co.za>
At 05:50 AM 10/6/99 +0200, synmail wrote:
>
>>
>> Thank you, Hans.
>>
>
>Indeed !
>
>Chris
Chris,
You can sing the praises of silence, and silence does have its virtues. But
remember that bad things can happen when dissenters from a wrongful
movement remain silent--especially to avoid hostility or even being forced
into silence. In particular, falsehood may triumph when truth remains silent.
Illustrate it to yourself: as you read through various bibliographies, some
will have no misquoted titles at all, while others have misquotations in
just the A's, B's, and C's of author names. With certain people going
silent, you will now have to do the searching yourself through databases
rather than relying on the silent to enlighten you on this and more serious
matters. You will then have your own choice about remaining silently right
or risking a hostile response--not exactly the kind of choice that
scientists should normally have to make.
Best wishes,
--Aaron
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