possive underground culture (from college on...)
on
Selfish Society
·
· Score: 2
i'm sure lots of people have already pointed out stuff i'm about to say, but i'd like to add a twist to it (later).
I must admit that i have feelings of contempt and loathing when i see others talking about technology when they obviously have no idea what's going on. and yes, i also have the "i worked hard to get here dammit" attitude...of sorts. you see, i'm still in college, working on a Systems Analysis major at Miami University of Ohio. College has really inflamed these feelings of jealousy and contempt. While all the business and finance majors are out every night drinking themselves silly and passing out in their own vomit, I've repeatedly had to deal with staying up until 2 or 3 in the morning just to finish various programming-related assignments. The fact is, you cannot have a blossoming social life and still dedicate yourself to a computer-related degree. Now, if it sounds like I'm bitching, I'm not...I love every moment of what I do. But still, it's obvious that there is a major decision concerning your social life that has to be made. From all this sacrifice, i think that a subconscious feeling that the world ows you something starts to develop. I mean, you worked all that time and wasted all that effort...so you deserve more money and recognition than that frat-boy that never goes to class, right???
Obviously, this attitude is self-centered and selfish, but it's easy to convince yourself this when it's four in the morning and that PERL script is just NOT doing what you need it to do. The internet, in the past, has always been a safe-haven of like-minded people to freely express themselves and talk amongst themselves. It was their own private land...free of slackers and lesser-minded people to just redicule and humiliate the "computer geeks." You can compare it to a special bar or rock group that no one has heard of before. That was YOURS...no one else knew about it. But just like a rock group selling out, or a favorite bar getting popular, when you throw in lots of publicity and attention, you almost feel....violated. I mean, where did these people come from? Where were they a year ago, when only I knew about them? You begin to feel like no one else deserves the right to know about them. This is obviously what happened with the internet...pop culture opened its eyes and saw a medium that could be exploited. And exploited it was...now computers and various lifestyles have entered all forms of media, *everyone* is on-line...cause it's the cool thing to do. Where were these people five years ago? Back when e-mail WAS instant messaging and chat rooms were filled with conversations of source code, not cybersex? Being "on the net" is almost now becoming associated with being "techno-savvy" by pop culture...which leaves us code warriors feeling...well...CHEATED. things are being dumbed down everywhere you go, and "concerned" people are pushing for regulations on what we see and hear on the net to "protect our youth." and while i agree that porn is overtaking the net and that it should NOT be available to underage kids, this surge of "protection" is turning into censorship, especially for us "old folk" of the net.
My main point is that feelings of possesiveness is almost natural when it comes to this situation. There is a push in mainstream culture to be more "techno-savvy," which is something that i personally was getting ridiculed for all throughout my life. This is apparent here at my school, where these past few years have seen a large amount of Freshmen coming in as Systems Analysis students, only to see about TW0-THIRDS of them drop the major by the end of the year. The reasons for this drop concern people assuming that computer science isn't hard ("hey, i can make a web page...how much more can there be?"), seeing this surge of technology in the mainstream and HAVING NO DEDICATION towards programming in general. People begin to see firsthand that you can't go out every night and still "make it" as a computer science student.
So yeah, i get angry when i see some rich kid with his brand new powerful computer where the only thing he does with it is download porn off the internet. so maybe i see that that machine could be used for soo much more, like trying to boot as many different op. systems as that 40 GB harddrive in there will allow. and maybe i do get a bit peeved when i hear people bragging about the size of their mp3 collections (which is so very analagous to a "my dick is bigger than yours" contest). but i think i should have the right to be. i've grown up with computers all my life... it started with a commedore 64 and has now worked its way up to a 700mhz athlon tower (and by the way, i come from a low middle-class familty from a farming community...so i don't buy the whole "not having the opportunity" line that some people are saying). I've come to realize that superficial aspects of computing (faster cdroms, bigger speakers) are fine and all, but the true spirit of computing is that of communicating intamely with your machine...manipulating it to your will...turning your thoughts into programs that people can benefit from. and maybe some of us are just a bit peeved that this is exactly what mass culture is shying away from as they invade our once proud intellectual world.
Slashdot Mirror
i'm sure lots of people have already pointed out stuff i'm about to say, but i'd like to add a twist to it (later).
I must admit that i have feelings of contempt and loathing when i see others talking about technology when they obviously have no idea what's going on. and yes, i also have the "i worked hard to get here dammit" attitude...of sorts. you see, i'm still in college, working on a Systems Analysis major at Miami University of Ohio. College has really inflamed these feelings of jealousy and contempt. While all the business and finance majors are out every night drinking themselves silly and passing out in their own vomit, I've repeatedly had to deal with staying up until 2 or 3 in the morning just to finish various programming-related assignments. The fact is, you cannot have a blossoming social life and still dedicate yourself to a computer-related degree. Now, if it sounds like I'm bitching, I'm not...I love every moment of what I do. But still, it's obvious that there is a major decision concerning your social life that has to be made. From all this sacrifice, i think that a subconscious feeling that the world ows you something starts to develop. I mean, you worked all that time and wasted all that effort...so you deserve more money and recognition than that frat-boy that never goes to class, right???
Obviously, this attitude is self-centered and selfish, but it's easy to convince yourself this when it's four in the morning and that PERL script is just NOT doing what you need it to do.
The internet, in the past, has always been a safe-haven of like-minded people to freely express themselves and talk amongst themselves. It was their own private land...free of slackers and lesser-minded people to just redicule and humiliate the "computer geeks." You can compare it to a special bar or rock group that no one has heard of before. That was YOURS...no one else knew about it. But just like a rock group selling out, or a favorite bar getting popular, when you throw in lots of publicity and attention, you almost feel....violated. I mean, where did these people come from? Where were they a year ago, when only I knew about them? You begin to feel like no one else deserves the right to know about them. This is obviously what happened with the internet...pop culture opened its eyes and saw a medium that could be exploited. And exploited it was...now computers and various lifestyles have entered all forms of media, *everyone* is on-line...cause it's the cool thing to do. Where were these people five years ago? Back when e-mail WAS instant messaging and chat rooms were filled with conversations of source code, not cybersex? Being "on the net" is almost now becoming associated with being "techno-savvy" by pop culture...which leaves us code warriors feeling...well...CHEATED. things are being dumbed down everywhere you go, and "concerned" people are pushing for regulations on what we see and hear on the net to "protect our youth." and while i agree that porn is overtaking the net and that it should NOT be available to underage kids, this surge of "protection" is turning into censorship, especially for us "old folk" of the net.
My main point is that feelings of possesiveness is almost natural when it comes to this situation. There is a push in mainstream culture to be more "techno-savvy," which is something that i personally was getting ridiculed for all throughout my life. This is apparent here at my school, where these past few years have seen a large amount of Freshmen coming in as Systems Analysis students, only to see about TW0-THIRDS of them drop the major by the end of the year. The reasons for this drop concern people assuming that computer science isn't hard ("hey, i can make a web page...how much more can there be?"), seeing this surge of technology in the mainstream and HAVING NO DEDICATION towards programming in general. People begin to see firsthand that you can't go out every night and still "make it" as a computer science student.
So yeah, i get angry when i see some rich kid with his brand new powerful computer where the only thing he does with it is download porn off the internet. so maybe i see that that machine could be used for soo much more, like trying to boot as many different op. systems as that 40 GB harddrive in there will allow. and maybe i do get a bit peeved when i hear people bragging about the size of their mp3 collections (which is so very analagous to a "my dick is bigger than yours" contest). but i think i should have the right to be. i've grown up with computers all my life... it started with a commedore 64 and has now worked its way up to a 700mhz athlon tower (and by the way, i come from a low middle-class familty from a farming community...so i don't buy the whole "not having the opportunity" line that some people are saying). I've come to realize that superficial aspects of computing (faster cdroms, bigger speakers) are fine and all, but the true spirit of computing is that of communicating intamely with your machine...manipulating it to your will...turning your thoughts into programs that people can benefit from. and maybe some of us are just a bit peeved that this is exactly what mass culture is shying away from as they invade our once proud intellectual world.
but then again, what do i know?
--cw