Would you like the world to hear your opinion?

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

As the first of January unfolds around the world, the lights are on. Gary North is worried about his site going down, but no one else is. Everybody's checking in to see how he spins the backpedals, not to get help.

Do you feel let down? Do you feel as though the worst is yet to come? Gary North refuses to talk to the press...because everything he's predicted has failed to materialize. I'd be embarrassed and in hiding if I were him, regurgitating only those stories from the wire services that served my purpose...but then, I'm not him. I host a technology/pop culture radio show, and we've been talking and learning, not fear-mongering.

The hardest thing in the world is to admit that your most fervent beliefs were misplaced. As I've been saying on Online Tonight for the past two years, the greed of business people is our biggest ally: the capitalist system would never allow Y2K to be an adversary with any chance of winning.

Feel free to call in tonight at 800-396-6546 with your comments: we'll be broadcasting for 6 hours rather than three, beginning at 10p ET, and you can hear the show on your local affiliate or on the web at http://online-tonight/webcast - courtesy of our Portland affiliate KBNP. We will also simulcast with WGN in Chicago shortly after midnight Central Time.

Save the number for tonight, and call us with your comments and questions: please, serious calls only. We are heard by over 6.2 million people worldwide both on the air, and on the Net. Check the site for the affiliate near you.

Tell the world how you feel - and share your thoughts on Y2K.

David Lawrence, Host Online Tonight The Net Music

-- David Lawrence, Online Tonight (Lawrence@aol.com), December 31, 1999

Answers

[Do you feel let down?]

My goodness! Au contraire. I've prepared for potential problems, but I'm doing a jig around the room for the news this morning! (Perhaps a tad prematurely, but I assure you that I am enjoying the moment, nonetheless.)

Your question suggests that perhaps you have misunderstood the dynamic here. You must think people who utilize and share those ol' girlscout & boyscout skills when confronted with a problem (a very REAL problem evidenced by the amount of money to fix it) are wanting the world to end. That is to really miss the mark about the preponderance of TB2000 folks.

I understand that news/show people look for the "fear & loathing" criteria to choose their stories and angles, but I think your underlying presumption is quite incorrect.

It's celebration in my house. I am raising my glass to ALL the IT people who brought the problem to the attention of the world so it could be addressed, to those who worked tirelessly so that we would HAVE news good this morning. And here's to hoping that good news holds!

-- (resolved@this.point), December 31, 1999.


David,

You've already incorporated so many biases and ridiculous presuppositions in your request that either you are so ignorant about this issue that any short q-and-a with you directly involved would add practically nothing to the discussion; or you're just trying to jerk someone's chain.

Count me out.

-- eve (123@4567.com), December 31, 1999.


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