Theos-Talk Archives (January 1998 Message tt00432)

Dear Dallas: A very good idea. Let us get some feedback from other
subscribers.

mkr
==================


At 01:19 PM 1/31/1998 -0800, Dallas TenBroeck wrote:
>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."