Did anyone see the essay by James K. Glassman today? (I think it originally appeared in the Washington Post.) He mentioned fears of banks emptying customers accounts to collect debts that computers think are 100 years past due, missiles being launched by renegade software, heart pacemakers failing in thousands of chests, and the obligatory elevators stuck between floors and yes (you know whats coming), airplanes falling from the sky. He says "gullible folks are scared. Hucksters and ignoramuses are ginning up pandemonium." And he even gives us that inevitable phrase, "no one can be absolutely sure what damage the millennium bug will cause." He tells us that "something you know about in advance is unlikely to hurt you very much--especially if you can fix it." (Thats the important phrase Mr. Glassman IF YOU CAN FIX IT!) He says most businesses are well on their way to compliance. All of his compliance examples are of companies that will be compliant in the future, and he claims the Social Security Administration "is in great shape." He advises us not to "let apocalyptic nuts convince you that its such a curse that you need to sell your stocks, withdraw your cash, buy guns and stock up on water." My semi-retired husband is sure a copy of this will be on his desk the next time he goes to work, to show him that he is silly for trying to warn people.

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), December 02, 1998

Answers

and so it goes...

-- (cheers@for.you), December 02, 1998.

Trust no one.

The truth is out there.

(borrowed that from X-files)

People who are stupid enough (not you, but many others) to beleive any of the crap they read in the papers (especially the Washington Post) probably deserve to get what's coming to them. The only people you can hope to get truth from are those without an agenda. This corporate clown is just another one of the pigs riding the Wall Street wave, using his position in the media to feed us lies. By convincing investors in the financial markets that "everything is fine" he hopes to fatten his own piggy bank a little longer, then cash in before the bottom falls out.

-- infoman (infoman@web.com), December 02, 1998.

After reading Glassman's essay, now I know why Paul Milne so frequently uses words like butthead, moron, and a**hole. The sad reality is that many people will read Glassman's moronic scolding and drop any ideas they had of preparing. In other words, people will die because of this article. How pitiful.

-- bill dunn (bdunn@snet.net), December 03, 1998.

I have been watching this kind of crap for well over a year and ahalf now. There is no excuse whatsoever for an article like Glassman's. It is not merely a 'different' view. It is devoid of even a semblance of reality.

Yes, I call an author like Glassman an asshole. There is no other appropriate term.

The first thing that people like Glassman say in their 'defense' is that I have a bone to pick with them becuase we disagree. No, we do not 'merely' disagree. I have never attacked ANYONE because we merely disagreed and I never will.

when people engage in undisouted MANIFEST and calculated ignorance, I will go after them tooth and nail. The reason is that PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE because of them.

This is life and death. This is not a tea party discussion. The consequences of being mistaken on this one is life or death.

Many people will read what Glassman has written. And, they will decide to do nothing to prepare. And the consequences of not preparing, will probably be that they will not make it.

Every day, every scrap of information that comes in, indicates that we are further behind than we thought, that we are slipping schedules, underestimating budgets and ingeneral failing miserably. No reasonable person can look at the information and conclude otherwise. Notice that I said 'reasonable' person. I am not suggesting that 'my' opinion on anything at all is the only true opinion. What I am saying is that as far as Y2K is concerned, Glassman is utterly out of the realm of being considered reasonable, while the facts PROVE that even if I am a bit off, the situation is very much in line with what I have been saying.

As a matter of fact, the word reasonable is not even a word that could come up in conjunction with the name Glassman. He is not even semi-conscious. He is brain dead. He is an asshole. And I am not in the least bit ashamed of saying it.

That does not mean that I wish any harm at all to befall him. I hope that he wakes up in enough time to do something , anything at all, to prepare. I hope he makes it intact.

The reason that I am so disturbed by what he has written is that other people will end up dead as a result of having taken heed of his blather.

-- Paul Milne (fedinfo@halifax.com), December 03, 1998.