On Fri, 21 May 1999, Joe E. Dees wrote:
> I am deeply sorry for the chaos engendered by my attempts to
> disinfect this list of the (ob)noxious meanderings of the Brettster. It
> has been said about some that they do not suffer fools gladly; I
> refuse to suffer them at all. It is not a kind thing to do for either
> Brett or for those of massive naivete who might mistake his word
> salad for something sensible to just ignore his ranting posts and
> allow him to rave his nonsense unanswered, and I, for one, refuse
> to do it. I will NOT have tacit assent to malignant insanity implied
> by my silence in the face of it.
Genius always has it's limits while madness has none.
It is usually pointless to waste time in educating those of different opinion, unless it happens for your own profit or some other entertainment motive.
In any case, the information provided for propagandic purposes should be of such character that it will cause the adversary to adjust his or her views. Otherwise it is useless to waste time delivering it in the first place.
Remember that some people adapt only memes that enhance their current beliefs, and such people coldly reject those conflicting with their beliefs, never giving them a benefit of a doubt. This is a sort of write-protection that some memes have.
In any case, do follow the Microsoft vs Linux PR battle. This is going to be one heck of an information war. Already M$ is spitting on leading characters involved with Linux (paying and publishing misquotations and depicting them in unfavourable light, etc) and buying publishers to print their stories. It will be interesting to see how the Linux community can stand up to such public media mind crafting.