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Is it really that silly to want to do things for the sake of enjoyment or benefiting others, instead of doing things to spite a talking head on the TV who says

Is it really that silly to want to do things for the sake of enjoyment or benefiting others, instead of doing things to spite a talking head on the TV who says mean things? It's a real problem that the political systems of the world are broken at best, but quite frankly I haven't got time or money enough to fix it, and my resources are better spent trying to build interesting things and watching others build interesting things. I cannot save the World; I can absolutely make my own life better, and help others around me.

eli_gottlieb 9y ago
>Is it really that silly to want to do things for the sake of enjoyment or benefiting others, No, but for many of us, that road can be blocked because of politics.
- dawnbreez 9y ago
  How is it blocked? Programming is not illegal. Neither is art. Unless your aspirations are politics, political decisions only rarely enter into the equation. That isn't to say it never comes into play, or that it never becomes a big enough problem to interrupt your actual goals. However, in my (~20 years) of experience in this world, what the President is saying has nothing to do with me. Indeed, the vast, vast majority of 'politics' (i.e., the things that catch your attention in news shows and blog posts) is pointless yelling, and has nothing to do with either of us, or any of the people who angrily demand action and strut back and forth in the comments. Recently, the same people who wage war in comment sections started warring in the streets, and it has only gotten worse. These are all reasons why I dislike politics, and why I advocate for separating politics from everything else. There is no point in trying to find a political statement in the games I'm trying to create. At best, you'd get to feel like a hero because you trashed someone's work over some supposed connection to Hitler. Similarly, I have no reason to go around waving guns and demanding that Hacker News ban all commies, or declaring anybody who doesn't use my exact combination of pronouns to be part of the new Reich. I would have nothing but a false sense of purpose to gain from these things, and I'd rather have the real sense of purpose from creating something people enjoy.
  - eli_gottlieb 9y ago
    >How is it blocked? Programming is not illegal. Neither is art. Unless your aspirations are politics, political decisions only rarely enter into the equation. I have friends who are graduate students, and I used to be one. Doubling taxes on everyone working in a specific field is... well, it's cutting off people's livelihood out of pure political spite. As it is, labor law has a daily effect on all of us who work for a living, and recent Congressional efforts in healthcare policy have basically constituted stochastic terrorism against the population at large. Threats of war, loss of healthcare, loss of Social Security, doublings of taxes -- these things affect people's lives.

eli_gottlieb 9y ago

>Is it really that silly to want to do things for the sake of enjoyment or benefiting others, No, but for many of us, that road can be blocked because of politics.

dawnbreez 9y ago
How is it blocked? Programming is not illegal. Neither is art. Unless your aspirations are politics, political decisions only rarely enter into the equation. That isn't to say it never comes into play, or that it never becomes a big enough problem to interrupt your actual goals. However, in my (~20 years) of experience in this world, what the President is saying has nothing to do with me. Indeed, the vast, vast majority of 'politics' (i.e., the things that catch your attention in news shows and blog posts) is pointless yelling, and has nothing to do with either of us, or any of the people who angrily demand action and strut back and forth in the comments. Recently, the same people who wage war in comment sections started warring in the streets, and it has only gotten worse. These are all reasons why I dislike politics, and why I advocate for separating politics from everything else. There is no point in trying to find a political statement in the games I'm trying to create. At best, you'd get to feel like a hero because you trashed someone's work over some supposed connection to Hitler. Similarly, I have no reason to go around waving guns and demanding that Hacker News ban all commies, or declaring anybody who doesn't use my exact combination of pronouns to be part of the new Reich. I would have nothing but a false sense of purpose to gain from these things, and I'd rather have the real sense of purpose from creating something people enjoy.
- eli_gottlieb 9y ago
  >How is it blocked? Programming is not illegal. Neither is art. Unless your aspirations are politics, political decisions only rarely enter into the equation. I have friends who are graduate students, and I used to be one. Doubling taxes on everyone working in a specific field is... well, it's cutting off people's livelihood out of pure political spite. As it is, labor law has a daily effect on all of us who work for a living, and recent Congressional efforts in healthcare policy have basically constituted stochastic terrorism against the population at large. Threats of war, loss of healthcare, loss of Social Security, doublings of taxes -- these things affect people's lives.