Theos-Talk Archives (January 1998 Message tt00427)

Jan 31st 1998

Dear MKR

What should be accumulated is a consolidated list of interested persons to
whom information could be sent out generally.  Perhaps the various Lodges
or their officers could be listed, so that they in turn could diffuse any
useful news.

To this could be gradually added those individuals who were interested.

No small job, but a useful one.	Reminiscent of Mr. Judge's effort in 1896
and thereafter when there were issued a number of  Theosophical Free
Tracts.  In 10 years they distributed over 1/2 million Free Tracts to
potential persons who might be interested in Theosophy.  No reason why that
could not be picked up. and by a general effort this could be brought into
working condition again.

At that time, from 1886 to 1896 the number of Lodges in America grew from
about 35 to over 350, and membership in the American Section went from
about 400 to over 5,000 by 1896.

AN EPITOME OF THEOSOPHY (about 32 pages) was the greatest introduction to
Theosophy and was widely reprinted.  Mr. Wood had it reprinted in TPH Adyar
when he was President, as I recall.

I recently posted a note concerning the nature of the contents of PRACTICAL
OCCULTISM, said by the TPH in Adyar to be by H.P.B.

There is a small portion of it by her, but most of the material is by other
authors
 ( I traced them all ) and I wrote to TPH Adyar suggesting that they change
their "authorship line" and indicate the sources of the various quotes
given in there.

I you desire the information I can send it to you to see.

				Best wishes,			Dallas


                                      Dallas  TenBroeck
               dalval@nwc.net                        (818) 222-8024
                                   23145 Park Contessa,
                             Calabasas, Ca., 91302, USA.

----------
> From: "M K Ramadoss" <ramadoss@eden.com>
> Subject: Impact/Power of Internet
> Date: Saturday, January 31, 1998 8:10 AM
>
> I have posted several msgs pointing to the communication potential of
> Internet. When recent Clinton problems arose, did the public read it in
the
> US Government Official Publication -- the Federal Register? No. It was
> first on Internet. The following story I picked up from CNN site is very
> informative and might interest many who are interested in Internet.
>
> Specifically for Thesophists and Theosophical organizations, IMHO, the
most
> important item of note is the levelling nature of Internet and how it
takes
> very little monetary resources to use Internet.
>
> Theosophy has used paper and print media for over a century to present
its
> message and communicate with people interested in Theosophy, it will be
> very difficult for aging leadership (when did we see young leaders last?)
> who grew up in the print media which had and has 100% control and who are
> not exposed to computer culture, to get a full understanding of the power
> and scope and future potential of Internet as the universal tool of
> communication.
>
> Internet technology is moving very fast and it is opening up channels of
> direct communication without intermediaries filtering or censoring
> information. By relying on print media one misses the opportunity of
using
> a very cost effective Internet as well as the speed with which
> communication takes place. Traditionally pencil and paper methods of
> communication coupled with the Postal Service provided the slack which is
> useful and convenient to slow down the process and also seen from the
> chains and manvantaras point of view, such slow speed does not matter.
>
> However from a practical standpoint of today's world, speed and
efficiency
> can go hand in hand by using Internet.
>
> We will have to see if theosophy and Theosophical organizations can tap
> into the potential of Internet to spread the msg that HPB gave us at a
> great personal sacrifice for helping the Humanity. Future can only tell
if
> theosophy makes use of Internet or going to miss the grand opportunity.
>
> Just my thoughts. Welcome any feedback.
>
>
> MKR
>
> PS: A great beginning has been made by the establishment of these
maillists
> and the newsgroup by individuals who had the foresight to see the
potential
> and had the best interests of Theosophy in their hearts. My salute to
John
> and Eldon and Chuck. Of course there are many who have set up urls with
> theosophical info and we should thank each of them for their contribution
> to spread theosophy. In the Internet age, may be the future of theosophy
> lies with enterprising and creative individuals rather than organizations
> with a large bureaucracy and a lot of money, who knows.
>
>
>
> ============================
>
> Pandora's Web?
>
> Clinton-Lewinsky allegations fuel debate about journalism and the
Internet
>
> BY GREGG RUSSELL/CNN INTERACTIVE
>
>
> NEWSWEEK KILLS STORY ON WHITE HOUSE INTERN:
>  23-YEAR OLD, SEX RELATIONSHIP WITH PRESIDENT
>
> **World Exclusive**
> **Must Credit the DRUDGE REPORT**
>
> At the last minute, at 6 p.m. on Saturday evening, NEWSWEEK magazine
killed
> a story that was destined to shake official Washington to its foundation:
> A White House intern carried on a sexual affair with the President of the
> United States!
>
> These words, posted early Sunday morning, Jan. 18, on the personal Web
site
> of a man named Matt Drudge, began the lurid multimedia frenzy engulfing
the
> United States today. [I]
>
> Welcome to journalism in the Internet Age:  an age when a 30- year-old
> former CBS gift-shop clerk like Drudge, armed with a computer and a
modem,
> can wield nearly as much power as a network executive producer or the
> editor of The New York Times.
>
> The Drudge Report, a mix of gossip, politics, rumor and news, has been
> attracting attention in cyberspace for a couple of years now. Some 60,000
> subscribers receive Drudge's daily bulletins and "flash" reports; tens of
> thousands more read them on his Web site.  Using a network of tipsters
and
> "borrowed" passwords to the internal computer systems of media
powerhouses,
> Drudge has managed to scoop the media establishment on a number of
stories,
> including the selection of Jack Kemp as Bob Dole's vice presidential
> running mate and Connie Chung's dismissal by CBS.
>
> But it was Drudge's White House sex scandal scoop that caused the
> mainstream media to take notice.  And even as these "respectable" news
> outlets pursue the scandal with almost tabloid intensity, many
professional
> journalists are expressing concern about Drudge's role in breaking the
> Lewinsky story and the effect the Internet is having on their profession.

>
> "The technology of nonstop news and the Internet means that allegations
> that would have been carefully checked out a generation ago no longer
are,"
> said James Fallows, editor of U.S. News and World Report. "We now have a
> 24-hour-a-day news cycle. News gets used up very quickly and  there's a
> constant hunger for new tidbits."
>
> Even some online journalists fear their new medium is upping the ante.
> "Every part of the media now feels the pressure of the Internet, " said
> Jodie Allen, Washington editor of Slate online magazine.  "If Matt Drudge
> is going to get it up there, maybe we better put (it) out there first."
>
> Lower standards?
>
> The problem, as some see it, is that The Drudge Report and other gadfly
> Internet sites are not subject to the editorial and legal rigors to which
> professional journalism is traditionally subject. Anyone with a Web site
> can publish a report, however baseless or unconfirmed, and call it news.
> Drudge himself has said he "takes some chances" and admits his stories
are
> only about "80 percent accurate."
>
> As pundit Michael Kinsley stated flatly in TIME magazine: "The Internet
> beat TV and print to this story, and ultimately  forced it on them, for
one
> simple reason: lower standards."
>
> Newsweek's editors agree.  Their higher standards, they claim, are
> precisely what prevented them from publishing the story in the first
place.
>  They wanted more information, more confirmation, and so they lost the
> scoop.  Drudge's report spurred other journalists to pursue the story,
and
> two days later it was on the front page of The Washington Post.
>
> "It hurt like hell," said Richard M. Smith, editor-in-chief of Newsweek.
> "But given the magnitude of the allegations and the information we had at
> the time, I'm convinced we acted responsibly."
>
> That sort of responsibility is exactly what some journalists fear will be
> subverted by competition from the Internet.
>
> "We are so caught up in trying to beat one another with some little
> scooplet," said the Chicago Tribune's James Warren, "that we're not
taking
> the care and attention that we usually do."
>
> Power to the people?
>
> So is the Web to blame for declining standards in mainstream journalism?
Is
> this new medium a high-tech Pandora's box, unleashing the ills of gossip
> and rumor among an utterly scrupulous news media?
>
> Certainly gossip and rumor didn't begin with the Internet. Walter
Winchell,
> to whom Drudge has with some accuracy been compared, used
> less-than-pristine standards of reporting to become the most powerful
> journalist--and arguably one of the most powerful people--in mid-century
> America.
>
> Drudge likes the idea of turning this kind of power over to the masses.
>
> "You don't get a license to report in America," he said. "We have a First
> Amendment freedom.  In the future, there will be 300 million reporters
with
> Web sites and e-mail accounts. I'm looking forward to it. I think the
> monopolization of news really screwed up a lot of things."
>
> Kinsley, who has worked for both print and cyber news mediums, suggests
the
> Internet offers a new kind of communication, which, while falling short
of
> journalism, still has value.
>
> "The case for Drudge," he writes in TIME, "is that there ought to be a
> middle ground between the highest standards and none at all. And the
> Internet, which can be sort of halfway between a private conversation and
> formal publication, is a good place for that middle ground. The middle
> ground, of course, should be acknowledged as such ... People should
> understand that the information they get this way is middling
> quality--better than what their neighbor heard at the dry cleaner's but
not
> as good as The New York Times."
>
> Where there's smoke, there's lawyers
>
> As it happens, the concerns of professional journalists may be resolved
the
> traditional American way: in the courtroom.   Drudge currently faces a
$30
> million defamation lawsuit for posting a report he later acknowledged was
> untrue.  His subsequent retraction and apology failed to keep the legal
> wolves at bay.
>
> But there's a chance even lawyers can't stop Drudge and his new media
ilk.
> Electronic Frontier Foundation counsel Mike Godwin argues that the
Internet
> is exempt from slander and libel suits because it affords equal access to
> everyone.  "People can say bad things on the 'Net and circulate them to a
> million of their closest friends," he says. "So what?  The 'Net's a level
> playing field."
>
> Drudge agrees.  "All my readers come to me," he said.  "I'm not forcing
> anyone to read me."
>
>
>
>