3 ms·
How very strange. The article about Patrick is very positive and merely suggests that he has the potential to make a lot more than he does now, and gives him so
by bugsy 16y ago
How very strange. The article about Patrick is very positive and merely suggests that he has the potential to make a lot more than he does now, and gives him some tips to that regard. Since Patrick lives his business life in the open of the internet, then it's not unreasonable to publicly post such an article, using only public sources as reference.
There's a couple comments maybe he is afraid of success, maybe he suffers from Catholic guilt (presumably since he has a very Irish name and nearly all Irish are Catholic.) But it's nothing horrible and it's all highly qualified.
I really don't see anything wrong with it, and it's obvious that Patrick could make more money if he wanted to (say working as a quant on Wall Street), but that's his own business whether he wants to or not.
I could make more money doing other things myself as well and people tell me that, but there's a lot of stuff I don't want to do. Money isn't everything, and the article in reference is no big deal.
- jacquesm 16y agoWould it be possible to discuss this without descending to even greater depths?
- bugsy 16y agoCould you clarify your question? Is it directed to my post? I am unaware of anything in my own post that could be considered offensive but if it seems otherwise I would appreciate knowing in what way it seems so.
- jacquesm 16y agoI don't think you need to pull Patricks religion in to this at all, that was just about the one thing missing in the original post.
- steveklabnik 16y agoThe original post specifically mentioned Catholicism: > At the risk of upsetting people, I’m going to go out on a limb here – were you raised Catholic? Etc.
- jacquesm 16y agoI missed that on reading the original the first time around, you're right. But Patrick is pretty up-front about his religion.
- mquander 16y agoNo, it wasn't missing. The blog post literally suggested that the reason he isn't rich and powerful might be because he has Catholic guilt. I swear to God it said that.
- jacquesm 16y agoYes, you're right, I'm sorry I missed that.
- bugsy 16y agoOh, the original post did get into some stuff about his possibly being Catholic and suffering from guilt. When I read that in the article I did cringe and thought it was a stretch and detracted from the article. I am not saying the article is the best possible article or was free from cringe inducing statements. But I also don't see it as something someone should be banned for, not even remotely close. It sounded more like the guy writing it was Catholic himself, overcame Catholic guilt (which is a topic people do discuss), and was speculating through projection that Patrick is Irish and suffers from it. It seemed like a huge long shot though. Myself I think it's more likely Patrick is like me and is perfectly aware he can make more money working for some corporation in some contexts, but chooses to do his own thing instead even though his current income is possibly less than he made working for the man. And that's me projecting as well. Someone who seeks to be able to live on the beach on Thailand might write an article saying that Patrick must be running his business with the goal of moving to Thailand. Someone bent on taking over the world, creating one world government and declaring himself emperor of the galaxy might write an article saying that Patrick is planning to build a fleet of spaceships. OK, that last one is silly, forget that example. Patrick also has only been a year from quitting his job, so it's not a weird thing to be making less than a hundred million a year or whatever people are unreasonably assuming he should be making. What he is making is pretty darn awesome for a one man shop that's only been around a few years. Personally I think that whatever he is making in total and his reasons for being satisfied and fulfilled doing so are his own business and I don't give his personal lifestyle choices any thought myself. But even it being his own personal choice, someone writing about that, and in essence projecting their own issues onto this one like the original article did, is not something offensive or mean spirited. The first half of the article was practically a love letter to Patrick and quite flattering. The rest seems to be both giving advice, and the author working out his own personal shock that someone he saw as a mentor leading him to great wealth and fame was earning only a modest income. That doesn't mean though that Patrick's advice is bad, Patrick's articles are great and filled with useful information.
- jacquesm 16y agoPatrick has made absolutely no secret of his religion so there is no need to speculate. He regularly refers to 'his priest' in his comments here. For instance: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1428539 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1428539 But I really don't see the need to further the 'psychoanalysis for the absolute beginner' based on the common 'guilt of the Irish', please.
- barrkel 16y agoDon't jump to any stereotyped conclusions or anything.