> Paul,
>
> Thank you for the reference. I've read that particular essay (where he
> talks about majorities having to do not with power but with moral
> influence, right??) but I am not quite sure why you referenced it--maybe
> because of my comment about the actual struggle for power against our
> rulers?
You wrote against ideological struggle in cyberspace, where there is access to the conscience of the nation, in favor of getting your head beat in as a morally superior path. You ended with a quote from Baldwin, as if he supported your self-indulgent posturing. I was simply pointing out that he took directly the opposite position.
Baldwin knew quite well that blood will spill, and this will figure crucially in history, but he did not celebrate this fact. He DID celebrate the fact that, however difficultly, however uncertainly, however disappointingly slow, moral progress can be made in light of that bloodshed. But it can't be made if we refuse to engage ourselves in creating the necessary moral climate.
I'm well aware that there are substantially fewer minorities in cyberspace. This hardly constitutes a reason to ignore cyberspace. If anything, it provides a foothold for organizing. When Gary Webb's "Dark Alliance" story came out on the web, it served as a stimulus to black interest in cyberspace. This should suggest something of the potential that's out there. As the cost differential between sneakers and PCs continues to shrink, a re-reading of "Darwin's Athletes" would seem to be in order here.
-- Paul Rosenberg Reason and Democracy rad at gte.net
"Let's put the information BACK into the information age!"