Mistaken Assumptions

Richiekgb quoting Max More, on the Rick Ross site: "It's unfortunate that Ms. Maxim launched into a destructive attack (with a false headline) without bothering to check with me, knowing that I wrote that article when I was a *teenager*."

Mr. More makes a mistaken assumption. He accuses me of "knowing that (he) wrote that article when (he) was a *teenager,*" when I knew no such thing. To be perfectly honest, I don't know how old Mr. More is, and I wasn't paying attention to the date of the article, when I commented on it. All I knew, when I read the article, was that every thread of maternal instinct in me screamed, "Hang Max More." Yet, here he is, wanting everyone to give him the benefit of the doubt, while he makes negative assumptions about me.

I don't think anyone, wanting to expose what they thought to be truly abhorrent behavior, would "(bother) to check with" the person they were trying to expose. (By "behavior," I am accusing Mr. More of writing what I consider to be a truly disgusting article, nothing more.) If everyone wanting to write an expose, checked with the person they were writing about, first, there would probably be a lot of disappearing evidence!

As for the "false headline" Mr. More accuses me of, even I felt uncomfortable with my use of the word "promotes," which is why I changed the title, not long after writing it. However, to be honest, the word I was searching for, but could not come up with at the time, was "endorses," (which probably paints just as ugly of a picture). Whether Mr. More likes it, or not, his article did read as an endorsement of pedophilia.

STILL, I had a bad taste in my mouth, after writing about him, with the nagging thought that I don't know him, in the back of my mind, and was thinking of, at least, toning down what I had written. The situation for me was compounded, when Mr. More's wife threatened me with litigation, (I don't respond well, to threats), and indicated the purpose of the article was Mr. More's "attempt to offer fair and just 'discussion' between those who have a mental illness and the law," something I found insulting to my intelligence.

So, now, here we are...with Mr. More asking, "Why didn't Ms. Maxim just check with me?" and me asking "Why didn't Mr. More just send me an email, saying, "Hey, did you bother to note I was just a kid, when I wrote that garbage? Please let me explain."

I'm not sure what to do. I WANT to believe him, but I'm not sure Mr. More is telling the truth about his change of heart, regarding coercion and the age of consent. It's hard for me to consider an about-face on something as extreme as that, because I sincerely believe I have the same fundamental values, now, as I had when I was a teenager. Also, it's hard for me to believe anything that comes from someone connected to cryonics organizations, when there have been so many lies. On the other hand, Mr. More WAS incredibly young when he wrote the article, and some people REALLY DO change, over time, and we all make mistakes. On top of that, Mr. More seems to like attention, (though he may be changing his mind about that), and I think it's entirely possible he WAS just trying to get attention, when he wrote that article, as a very young man. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I don't like removing things from my blog, (especially when people have threatened me with litigation). If Mr. More follows through with re-publishing the article, with an explanation of how his opinions have changed over time, I will seriously consider replacing what I wrote on my blog, with simply a link to his new piece, and maybe a brief comment.

Mr. More doesn't know how disappointed I was, to read his article. He and I have probably jumped to conclusions about one another, and at least one of us (him) has probably been told a lot of lies about the other. It's a sad situation, really, considering my background and (what should be) his goals, for Alcor.

Now, I had better click "Publish Post," before I change my mind. I'm still uncertain about this situation, and I'm not looking forward to "catching it from both sides," (supporters, and enemies, alike, for this post).

More on Max More, Alcor's New CEO

On New Year's Day, I published a blog entry, regarding an article written by Max More, addressing "consensual sex" with children. No response came from Mr. More, or Alcor, unless one wants to count threats of litigation from his wife and the removal of the offending article from the Internet.

I was researching Mr. More, because I was curious to know if he had ANY qualifications that would make him a good candidate to lead an endeavor in the medical sciences, and I was certainly not expecting to find that kind of "dirt." The article turned up in my search results, almost immediately. (So much for Alcor's "exhaustive background checks.") Prior to finding the offensive article, I was encouraged by the news that Alcor had a new leader. In fact, I had asked at least two people, acquainted with Mr. More, to ask him to consider my comments about the equipment and personnel issues.

I'll admit that, as a mother, I did have a "knee-jerk" response to his article. Later, I thought maybe it was inappropriate of me to have indicated I felt Mr. More was "promoting" pedophilia. I've read, and re-read, the article, many times, and no matter how open-minded I try to be about it, for all intents and purposes it reads like an endorsement of pedophilia. What other conclusion can be had from a comment like this:

"As I have argued above, non-coercive sex with juveniles is not immoral -- it is merely a matter of preference,as is bisexuality or homosexuality, oral sex, etc.." (Max More's ephasis on the word "not.") From: SEX, COERCION, AGE OF CONSENT by MAX O’CONNOR 1981: Libertarian Alliance; Max O’Connor; ISBN 1 85637 190 5

One of Mr. More's friends asked me, why I did not "ask Max" about the article, before commenting on it. My answer to this is, "Why? So he could have removed it from the Internet, before anyone read it?"

What is also disturbing, to me, is I heard the "adults should be allowed to engage in consensual sex with children" argument, from another cryonicist, (an acquaintance of Mr. More), just a little more than four years ago. Then, there's Swank and Yount...it's all too much, really!

All this has been very disturbing, to me, as a mother, and simply as a human being, and I'm hoping Mr. More and/or Alcor will see fit to publish some sort of response, instead of simply removing the offending article from the public view and threatening me with litigation.