I call on Ben Best and Robert Ettinger to admonish all CI members to stop attacking Alcor and to stop encouraging people like Johnson and his allies.
I have just posted the message below to the
CI Members' Yahoo Group. I am less partisan
than Robert Ettinger and I doubt the Robert
Ettinger ever reads ImmInst Forums. I have
posted less forceful messages on the CI forum
than the one below, objecting to a CI Member
who suggested that CI should denounce Alcor
so as to "distance" CI from the accusations.
Nonetheless, I don't think that the message
below is going to stop some CI Members who
are very provincial, partisan and even
hate-filled from attacking Alcor in Cold
Filter and elsewhere. I can only express
my opinion to CI Members, I cannot control
CI Members. And I don't want to control them,
although I hope that many of them respect
me enough to be influenced by my opinion.
-- Ben Best
Ben Best wrote:
> I have not read Johnson's book, so I am still
> unsure where this claim came from that Alcor
> used Ted William's "frozen head" for "batting practice".
> As I understand it, Johnson's book claims that
> Ted William's head was stuck to a tuna fish can
> and that a technician tried to remove the can with
> a monkey wrench. Trying to remove a tuna fish can
> from the head with a monkey wrench and using
> the head for "batting practice" are vastly
> different actions. Removing a tuna fish can
> with a monkey wrench is at least a crude form
> of attempting to do patient care. Using a head
> for "batting practice" is the opposite of patient
> care -- it is a disrespectful act of patient abuse.
>
> I have been challenged to prove that Alcor
> did not use Ted William's head for "batting
> practice" and the claim has been made that
> because I was not on the scene that I can't
> know whether this occurred or not. The first
> reason I give for not believing that Alcor
> used the head for "batting practice" is that
> the evidence given for the claim (trying to
> remove a can with a monkey wrench) does
> not support the conclusion. The actions and
> motivations are vastly different.
>
> The second reason I would give is more
> personal, namely that I have met most of
> the people who work -- and have worked --
> at Alcor, and I cannot believe that any
> Alcor staff person would use a patient's head
> for "batting practice". It is entirely out
> of character. Only someone who is both
> greatly out of touch with the people who
> work at Alcor, and ready to believe
> malicious lies because they are hostile
> to Alcor would believe such a claim, or
> even refuse to draw a conclusion based
> on lack of first-hand evidence. I would
> say the same for the claim that Alcor
> was doing experiments "dismembering
> live dogs".
>
> If someone made the claim that Robert
> Ettinger is molesting children and then
> dismembering them I would not believe
> that claim or even reserve judgment
> about my belief before deciding that
> the claim is false. Only a person who
> does not know Robert Ettinger or who
> is intensely hostile to Robert Ettinger
> could believe such a thing.
Edited by benbest, 07 October 2009 - 06:33 PM.
