[Arisbe] prestige and anonymity

[t.gollier at att.net]

Jon,

   The recent revival of interest in Hannah Arendt got me looking at
*Eichmann in Jerusalem*, the "banality of evil," and wondering
how many bureaucrats today might be convicted of crimes  similar 
(in kind if not quantity) today.  But I think you hit a key point in all
 this when you say:

> … it's  one where being in the club -- the "cabal" -- and carrying 
> the club does not depend  on much of anything but the readiness 
> to defend it, right or wrong.

There's a huge differece between organizations that are concerned
with accomplishing specific objectives (there are a few still out there, 
I think) and organizations whose overriding objective is their own 
survival or enhancment. That subtle change in orientation changes, 
or should I say "ruins", everything.

Tom