Theos-Talk Archives (January 2000 Message tt00017)

When I received the latest issue of Popular Photography Magazine, I was
surprised to find a full page ad addressed to Mail Order Advertisers.

In the letter it says:

"We regret to say that in the past few months complaints from Popular
Photography readers against some mail order stores and mail order tales of
horror posted on the Internet have become numerous and outrageous"

To protect the interests of the readers and honest advertisers, the
magazine has takes steps to enforce additional requirement on the advertisers.

It is interesting to note that the magazine owners did not wait to hear
from their readers directly. Just the exchange of msgs between their
readership on the Internet triggered the action. 

The owners could have ignored any and all talk on the Internet, because all
of it could be considered as "unofficial" and not requiring any response.
On the other hand, they saw the feedback to be valuable to their magazine
in the long run and decided to act without waiting to "hear" from the
readership directly.

Theosophical organizations can learn a lesson from the above.

While the msg traffic in this and other maillists and newsgroups are not
the extension of their official channels of information communication, they
can provide true and very valuable feedback, especially in the downward
trend we see in formal membership in theosophical organizations.

We all know that the Ancient Wisdom is intrinsically very valuable to the
humanity. If it could "sell" by itself, HPB and other leaders could have
just stayed in one place and written all the books and publications with no
need for TS and its branches. Obviously, at the time the branches were
started, that was one of the best ways of reaching individuals. The Adepts
should have known about it.

Now things have changed. We have the Internet Juggernaut moving into all
areas of communication. To not take advantage to further dissemination of
Theosophy would be to miss a very great opportunity.

There appears to be an aversion to use Internet technology by theosophical
organizations and its leadership and many theosophical "scholars".
Generational gap may be what is blinding them in not seeing the Juggernaut
staring at their face. Or are they waiting to get direction or instruction
from Theosophical Adepts from beyond Himalayas on using Internet resources?  

I hope they are not sitting ducks waiting to be run over by Internet.

mkr

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