Christ, this year's crop of unthinking sexist slashbots is even denser than last year's
Congratulations on sinking to the level of ad hominems. Do you generally assume that people who don't agree with you are stupid, or is it only if they happen to be men?
It's true that much of patriarchal culture is based on the fiction that men are somehow more 'powerful' than women. To sustain this, men are encouraged to pretend they have more power than they do.
So we have generations of men, busy trying to hide the fact that they are just as confused and vulnerable at times as everyone else. Whereas women are encouraged to hide their power and their intellect from the world, especially so as not to spook the men.
Sadly, some women learn to hide their power so well, they even manage to hide it from themselves and then assume it must be the men who 'stole' it, and who they must be revenged upon.
The simple truth is that Patriarchy doesn't work for men or women and I don't like it anymore than you do. But bashing men to express your anger isn't going to change anything.
My line of thinking is that the present conflicts and tensions surrounding Jon's articles (and others) have much more to do with the dynamics of fatherless sons (i.e. absent fathers) and the lack of adequate mentoring and parenting for adolescent males.
There is a reason that many flamers are young adolescent who seem to be railing against a generation of men who they feel have failed them.
For me, I see much of the whole open source scene and it's resultant policitics is fuelled by that adolescent anger. Not all of it mind you, I think many of the actual coders are driven by the pursuit for technical purity but there is a _lot_ of anger mixed in here too and often it's the 'angry young men' who don't actually _do_ anything but critique and flame.
But then, that's what they are here for - to vent their anger at whomever makes themself the target du jour, be it Sengan, JonKatz, Rob, or Microsoft.
Staying stuck in 'angry' is a way of not dealing with the pain, despair and disappointment - i.e. the rest of the grief cycle.
RMS had the drive and energy to get GNU going because he was _extremely angry_ and I see part of his anti-business position is still rested in his anger and desire to 'punish' the people who were with him at MIT for the betrayal he feels.
'Man Enough' by Frank Pittman is a very good book about this and the challenges of modern masculinity for anyone who is interested and is extremely readable, even for non-counsellors.
See, I often think much of the swirl of flames, bickering, and trolling within the open source and net communities (e.g. USENET) is more a reflection of these societal issues rather than technical issues or anything to do with what Jon writes.
Personally, I like what Jon writes, but then maybe I'm older, or have suffered a little more, or something happened along the way that makes me identify with the connections he draws.
See, I've always felt that your capacity for depth, empathy, and wisdom is _carved_ into you.
Jon, coming to Slashdot seems to have been the next step in your growth as a journalist and as a person. I hope your growth isn't _too painful_, Jon, because somewhat selfishly, I'd like you to stick around.
Anyways, the hardcore are probably going to decry that this line of thought is somewhat off-topic and probably a bit 'deep' and/or sentimental for a Slashdot discussion thread so I think I'll stop here:-)
Slashdot Mirror
Congratulations on sinking to the level of ad hominems. Do you generally assume that people who don't agree with you are stupid, or is it only if they happen to be men?
It's true that much of patriarchal culture is based on the fiction that men are somehow more 'powerful' than women. To sustain this, men are encouraged to pretend they have more power than they do.
So we have generations of men, busy trying to hide the fact that they are just as confused and vulnerable at times as everyone else. Whereas women are encouraged to hide their power and their intellect from the world, especially so as not to spook the men.
Sadly, some women learn to hide their power so well, they even manage to hide it from themselves and then assume it must be the men who 'stole' it, and who they must be revenged upon.
The simple truth is that Patriarchy doesn't work for men or women and I don't like it anymore than you do. But bashing men to express your anger isn't going to change anything.
The first step to awareness is acknowledging the concept, even if only in sarcastic parody.
I mean, it's pretty obvious that you're angry. The real issue is _who_ you're angry at and _why_.
Sadly, I doubt you have the courage to go _there_ yet and would rather just flame from a nice safe distance.
Then again, you might go and prove me wrong.
Have you considered taking a risk and dropping the defenses? You know, opening up a little. Some of the responses you get might suprise you.
My line of thinking is that the present conflicts and tensions surrounding Jon's articles (and others) have much more to do with the dynamics of fatherless sons (i.e. absent fathers) and the lack of adequate mentoring and parenting for adolescent males.
:-)
There is a reason that many flamers are young adolescent who seem to be railing against a generation of men who they feel have failed them.
For me, I see much of the whole open source scene and it's resultant policitics is fuelled by that adolescent anger. Not all of it mind you, I think many of the actual coders are driven by the pursuit for technical purity but there is a _lot_ of anger mixed in here too and often it's the 'angry young men' who don't actually _do_ anything but critique and flame.
But then, that's what they are here for - to vent their anger at whomever makes themself the target du jour, be it Sengan, JonKatz, Rob, or Microsoft.
Staying stuck in 'angry' is a way of not dealing with the pain, despair and disappointment - i.e. the rest of the grief cycle.
RMS had the drive and energy to get GNU going because he was _extremely angry_ and I see part of his anti-business position is still rested in his anger and desire to 'punish' the people who were with him at MIT for the betrayal he feels.
'Man Enough' by Frank Pittman is a very good book about this and the challenges of modern masculinity for anyone who is interested and is extremely readable, even for non-counsellors.
See, I often think much of the swirl of flames, bickering, and trolling within the open source and net communities (e.g. USENET) is more a reflection of these societal issues rather than technical issues or anything to do with what Jon writes.
Personally, I like what Jon writes, but then maybe I'm older, or have suffered a little more, or something happened along the way that makes me identify with the connections he draws.
See, I've always felt that your capacity for depth, empathy, and wisdom is _carved_ into you.
Jon, coming to Slashdot seems to have been the next step in your growth as a journalist and as a person. I hope your growth isn't _too painful_, Jon, because somewhat selfishly, I'd like you to stick around.
Anyways, the hardcore are probably going to decry that this line of thought is somewhat off-topic and probably a bit 'deep' and/or sentimental for a Slashdot discussion thread so I think I'll stop here