Re: [ox-en] "illegal operating systems such as Lunix"
- From: "B. Fallenstein" <b.fallenstein gmx.de>
- Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 23:53:02 +0100
Stefan Merten wrote:
Hi US-Americans!
Hey, I've got an opinion on this, too! ;o)
Yesterday geert lovink wrote:
in times of paranoia, some step up parental 'advice'...
http://www.adequacy.org/?op=displaystory;sid=2001/12/2/42056/2147
Is this true or is this a bad satire?
Neither: IMHO it's a *good* satire. It had me laughing out loud. :-)
I do not see how people can take this for serious. I mean, even if you
do not count all the obviously wrong information and even if you do not
count all the *right* information (I mean the knowledge the author
obviously had of the subject matter, making it all the more unlikely
they'd be wrong on so many counts)-- even if you do not count all that,
the *style* of the article so gives it away, especially the links. If
you are writing a serious article and put in links, you do so either to
support your point or to offer additional information on the subject
matter. Now, look at the words linked in this text (marked with asterisks):
As an enlightened, modern *parent* ... I keep a *fatherly* eye on
the CDs [my children] listen to ... My children have never failed
to make me *proud*, and I can say without the slightest
*embellishment* that I have the finest family in the *USA*.
(This link goes to http://www.usflag.org.)
... Cindy ... charged into the living room one night to *blurt*
out: "Peter is a computer hacker!" ... A computer hacker in
my own *house*!
(This links to http://www.hemingway.org/tour/images/House-turret256.JPG
. If you delete the last two parts of the URL, i.e. go to
http://www.hemingway.org/tour/ , the page you find has the
aforementioned house picture on it. The title of the page is, "Tour of
the Ernest Hemmingway Birthhome in Oak Park, Illinois.")
... to make certain that Cindy wasn't just *telling stories* ...
after a few days of *investigation* ... raised them to be *honest*
and to have *integrity*, and Peter *betrayed the principles* we
tried to encourage him in ...
(This link goes to
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html , "Biography of
William J. Clinton.")
... admit to his *activities*. His *denials* continued for hours ...
(http://www.capitolhillblue.com/July1997/textofjul4.htm , "Text of
Clinton's denial.")
... *responsible* for his actions. After going through this *ordeal*
(I *love* they put a link on this word. This alone should be enough to
give away the article as a satire!)
... I'd gained a lot of *knowledge* over those few days regarding
hackers. ... provide that information to other parents, in the hope
that they will be able to tell if their children are *being drawn*
into the world of hacking. ... before *extreme measures* need to be
employed. ... I advise any parents *read* this list carefully ...
before resorting to *groundings*, or even *spanking*. ... put a halt
to their son's *misbehaviour* before a spanking becomes necessary.
I'll stop at this point where the list of clues begins. Sorry for
quoting so excessively, but I just *loved* the way hypertext is being
made fun of here. What truly saddens me is the number of angry
responses, because they clearly show people take something they read on
the web as granted *even if it has all signs of being satire* (short of
saying it is)-- what does this mean for political manipulation?
And it's not the only article on adequacy.org getting this kind of treatment.
I also found the reactions to the few positive comments interesting. For
those who haven't read through it, one person claimed that using two
displays is a clear sign of anti-social hacker culture and is
essentially criminal. And most people replying took them seriously. Even
when they made a comment that in some movie, a hacker used five
displays.
*shrugs*
(Oh, and BTW, if you quote the mission statement you should also quote
the site motto: "News for grown-ups." Well, what *do* you expect from
this site?)
- Benja
_______________________
http://www.oekonux.org/