

ARPANET dialogues - fictional chat logs - rl1987
http://www.arpanetdialogues.net/

======
Tekahera
If I'm not mistaken, this might very well be the first recorded instance of
internet trolling!!

MARCEL BROODTHAERS It should be encouraged to be freely available.

RONALD REAGAN Marcel nothing is free you know.

MARCEL BROODTHAERS I know Ronald. I know. We have your great nation to thank
for this.

RONALD REAGAN Yes Marcel I do believe you have much to thank this great nation
for. Indeed.

RONALD REAGAN America is great nation.

RONALD REAGAN I can think of no other nation that has contributed as much to
ideas of democracy and free enterprise as my own.

~~~
philfreo
RONALD REAGAN Free. Well who pays for it in the end though.

------
stevenashley
Some interesting dialog here.

MARCEL BROODTHAERS: Students I think could benefit from this greatly. Vast
networks of students. Youth must be provided with the means to grasp this
opportunity.

RONALD REAGAN: Sounds a bit out of control to me.

------
ladon86
Is this real? Everyone sounds like an obvious caricature of themselves.

~~~
_delirium
The lack of _any_ mention of these chats in any historical literature I can
find is also suspicious. I could imagine the transcripts being lost until now,
but if indeed Ronald Reagan, Edward Said, and Jane Fonda had an ARPANet chat
in 1975, I would've expected to be able to find at least one person having
mentioned it!

Additional reason: the supposed discoverers are media artists, and this
project was presented at a new-media art festival, rather than, say, a history
conference (and no mention of how the transcripts may have been unearthed, or
from where). Feels very much like a media-art project.

~~~
ladon86
Absolutely, and the script almost has a sort of story arc as they await the
arrival of Jane Fonda. It feels play-like.

~~~
hugh3
Not just a play, but a fairly bad play.

Another objection: it's 1976. Would these folks have even known how to type?
Governor Reagan wouldn't be complaining about the difficulty of typing, he'd
have one of his secretaries come in and type while he dictates.

 _Also_ also, I just don't see Ronald Reagan agreeing to take time out to chat
with Edward Said and Hanoi Jane at all.

 _Also also_ also, Reagan would be funnier.

------
jeffb
I think Ronald Reagan basically defines himself as a communist here. He says
communism is "the suppression of liberty in the name of a common good." But
shortly before that, he suggests he is against Jane Fonda's "liberty" in the
name of the "liberty of millions of Americans" (the common good).

MARCEL BROODTHAERS: But I imagine you might not always appreciate her [Jane
Fonda's] views Mr Reagan.

RONALD REAGAN: No I dont care much for Communist sympathizers to be frank.

MARCEL BROODTHAERS: But surely she is liberated in her freedom to do so.

RONALD REAGAN: If ones liberty threatens to undermine the liberty of millions
of Americans then I must disagree Marcel.

<SNIP>

MARCEL BROODTHAERS: Thats a good point Edward. Can you even tell us what
communism is Mr Reagan.

RONALD REAGAN: Its the suppression of liberty in the name of a common good.

~~~
zwischenzug
Exactly what I noticed. It's the central philosophical problem with classical
liberalism right there! Before I sent this to friends: is this an April fool?

edit:

[http://jdeanicite.typepad.com/i_cite/2011/03/the-arpanet-
dia...](http://jdeanicite.typepad.com/i_cite/2011/03/the-arpanet-dialogues-
blog-archive-vol-i.html)

Yeah, a hoax, though disingenuously justified as a "FLIP".

------
nbashaw
For those who are unaware, Francis Fukuyama is the Hegelian who said at the
end of the Cold War that we have reached the end of history. I think it's one
of the most provocative and misunderstood statements of the past 20 years.

------
richardfisher
Definitely not genuine. Clicking on the symbol at the bottom right of the page
leads to a disclaimer posted 3 April:

<http://www.arpanetdialogues.net/disclaimer/>

Interesting, all the same.

------
cj
EDWARD SAID: How do you measure success?

RONALD REAGAN: I measure it in our prosperity and in our influence on the
world stage.

Translation: Money and power.

------
rbanffy
I would love to see this with the background sound of running ASR-33s...

------
lubos
who are these people? Marcel Broodthaers and Edward Said appeared incredibly
smart in those chat logs. And Ronald Reagan? would it be politically incorrect
to say that he sounded like a close-minded, conservative, ignorant prick? how
this guy ever became a president? I wonder...

~~~
rbanffy
> how this guy ever became a president?

Democracy ensures a people gets the leader is deserves.

And, before you shoot me, remember I am from Brazil and we just had 8 years of
Lula. Yes, we got what we deserved too ;-)

As far as Reagan is concerned, he was not the worse Americans did to
themselves, by far. Could have been, but he got incredibly lucky.

~~~
protomyth
Compared to The Carter, Ford, Nixon sequence; Reagan was a lot better for
America. At least they stopped writing those "Do we need a new form of
government / Is the Presidency obsolete" editorials.

