Local rag runs "Y2K is a hoax" letter to the editor

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/0221letters.asp

[My comments are in brackets, and were posted in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's online Y2K forum. Letters to the editor can be sent to jsedit@onwis.com.]

The Morning Mail

From Journal Sentinel readers

February 21, 1999

This Y2K dilemma could be a hoax

I see that everyone is about to go nuts over the Y2K dilemma. It is amazing that everyone seems to know everything about these computers and how they won't work anymore after New Year's Eve.

Until now, most people were lucky if they knew where the power switch was, and how to use a keyboard and a mouse. Probably 50% of the people who use computers don't know where the switch is.

[A little harsh, I'd say.]

Computers do not use dates internally as two digits. Computer users see them on the screen or on printed items as two digits, but computers use hexadecimal numbers for letters and numbers. The CMOS clock in personal computers does not allow any use of the year as 1900. The 286, 386 and 486 computers will continue to function in 2000 and beyond.

[Even if this were true (it's not), it misses the point. Y2K is not about only PC's. Yet this writer oversimplifies in an attempt to make a point.]

There is no point in the Milwaukee Public Schools investing money in generators or anything else for 2000 when the district needs to spend money on school buildings, teaching materials and teachers.

[I disagree.]

No one can prove that there will be any problems in 2000. It is all a hoax. Aren't newspapers liable for printing stories that may cause the spending of money unnecessarily?

[It is all a hoax? The level of ignorance never ceases to amaze me. Yet, the MJS chooses to print such rubbish.]

People should be doing some thinking, instead of reacting to stories that cannot be authenticated.

["Cannot be authenticated"?! There are thousands of examples of Y2K failures! People should be doing some research, in addition to some thinking.]

How long will it be before we start seeing real craziness over this Y2K dilemma?

[1/1/2000 at the latest.]

Dale R. Ericson Marshfield

[Here's a second letter, which was printed right below the first.] Why are media scaring people?

I think it is wrong of the media to scare people about dire things happening when 2000 arrives. Why are you trying to start a panic?

[If anything, the media has been underreporting the Y2K story. They print PR pieces without question, and the MJS has gone on record saying Y2K will "probably be solved". They are hardly being sensational.]

Believe it or not, everyone has known for years that this event would occur and has been working on it to prevent problems.

["Everyone"? Nonsense. And most who have been working on it started only in 1998.]

Electrical storms, blizzards and all weather hazards are impossible to predict or control. And as they happen and we all cope the best we can, so, too, I believe, we can cope with a new century.

[Y2K is a unique, unprecedented event. It cannot be compared to a natural disaster, which is localized and short-lived. Y2K is global, and its effects could last weeks or months. Outside help may not be an option.]

L.E. Wallgren New Berlin

-- Steve Hartsman (hartsman@ticon.net), February 22, 1999

Answers

Whoever L.E. Wallgren is he has a lot on the ball, more so than 90% of the posters on this forum.

-- nothing (is@stake.com), February 22, 1999.

Hi Steve,

looks like your local John Birch Society contingent is having some kind of a letter writing campaign...*sigh*

one of the reasons I was glad to get away from the Fox river valley was that everytime I went to a gun show these guys would try to claim there was a NWO plot to take over something or the other..

But hey! they're in Wisconsin, where it's gonna be January at the rollover just like everywhere else...I sure hope they have the courage of their convictions and don't expect the government to bail them out when they discover how wrong they've been.

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), February 22, 1999.


"No one can prove that there will be any problems in 2000. It is all a hoax. Aren't newspapers liable for printing stories that may cause the spending of money unnecessarily?"

Now, I tend not to swear much, but shouldn't this ass hole be held liable if the shit does hit the fan? <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), February 23, 1999.


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