CompuServe Messages

Well, Bill, while I certainly think you can boycott anything you like, I do not agree with your assessment of Leary. As I said elsewhere, many cultures use psychedelics for spiritual reasons, and to dismiss an idea you don't like as "pure garbage" is always dangerous UNLESS it is an idea based on hatred. NOTHING in Leary's career suggests to me that he is hate filled–which is much more than can be said for some of the self-righteous folks who would deny him a living if they could. (And THEN what? I wonder. Since he could not write, publish, speak, etc, could he serve hamburgers? Not if the boycotters got wind of it. Crime and drug pushing would be all that was left to the poor wretch.) Also, to equate Leary with South Africa is a moral obscenity in my view. He may be misguided (he certainly seems silly to me often) but he is not evil, malevolent, etc. And to blame him for drug abuse is asinine. He never advocated use of cocaine that I know of, yet that is now the drug of choice for some. In a country where alcohol and tobacco are supported to the extent they are by the government I find the "anti-drug" types who exclude those drugs hypocritical in the extreme. And again, I must ask which of the published articles by Dr. Leary you have in mind? Or is this mostly a reaction to media stuff? In any case, I doubt that either of us would have much use for the software in question, though as someone here noted, it would probably be at least funny and not take itself too seriously. On this one, it looks like we will have to agree to disagree. Happy Holidays. // Jim