Date:         Mon, 17 Aug 1998 01:51:44 -0700
Reply-To:     Jim Arnott <jrasite@EONI.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Arnott <jrasite@EONI.COM>
Organization: WetWesties & DreamCatcher
Subject:      Re: Hoover(ism)
Comments: To: vintagebus@type2.com, Type 2 List <type2@type2.com>,
          Vanagon List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
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...

I was playing around in the type2 archives and I found this post from
Hoover.  Reposting it under the circumstances will probably piss him
off, but it does bear repeating. It's something that we all should remember.

Jim Arnott
Union, OR
drivin' vintagebuses when they were new... '77 ASI Riviera II '83.5 Wasserleaker

Bob Hoover wrote on 2/18/98:

>
> To All:
>
> Didja hear the one about the blind guys and the elephant?  Seems they went to
> the circus and somebody decides to 'show' them an elephant.  The elephant must
> have been a friendly soul because it allowed the blind guys to feel it all
> over.
>
> After the circus was over the blind guys are in a bar telling their friends
> about the elephant, which lead to a furious argument.  One blind guy insists
> elephants are like snakes, because he happened to feel its trunk.  Another
> blind guy swore elephants were like trees, because he happened to feel one of
> its legs.  Another guy thought elephants were like enormous bats, having felt
> one of the elephant's ears, and so on.
>
> A lot of messages on this Mailing List contain opinions with which I disagree.
> If I have direct, personal experience to the contrary I may offer a different
> opinion, especially if the matter is safety-related.  Otherwise, I don't,
> because there's a strong liklihood my 'direct, personal experience'  was
> nothing more than feeling the elephant's tail.  The other guy may be talking
> through his hat but in most cases his opinion is just as valid as mine...
> except he may have been feeling the elephant's trunk.
>
> Volkswagens... or anything else, for that matter, are elephants.  And all
> humans are blind, in one way or another.
>
> The best advice I can offer is this:  Think for yourself.  Go find your own
> elephant.  Feel it up.
>
> -Bob Hoover
>