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Ah, but there's an interesting point here on the social acceptability of non-expertise. If you post some expert-level stuff about physics or microbiology or li
by hugh3 16y ago
Ah, but there's an interesting point here on the social acceptability of non-expertise.
If you post some expert-level stuff about physics or microbiology or linguistics or early Medieval French poetry then most people won't understand it but nobody will complain because they're ashamed (well, at least slightly) of their ignorance on these subjects.
On the other hand if you post some expert-level stuff about guns or football or Justin Bieber then people will complain because they're proud of their ignorance on these subjects. Being an expert on those subjects marks you out as part of a group which some people here don't want to be seen as being part of, so folks are quite proud to proclaim their ignorance on these subjects.
Of course, go to another corner of the internet and it's all switched around.
- roel_v 16y agoFunnily enough I posted just this (albeit in a more biting tone) last week, in an instance involving Justin Bieber (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1982494 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1982494), and was getting up/downvoted for a while just like you are until the upvotes won out in the end ;)
- cynicalkane 16y agoI'm really kind of floored that my simple little post seems to have been so contentious. People seem to have interpreted my comment as something to the effect that gun talk shouldn't be allowed. All I meant to say, however, was what I said--that a lot of people are simply not going to understand dense gun talk. I don't think your comment is true, either. I'd be very surprised if most people here were ashamed, even slightly, of their ignorance on any given 'nerd' subject. Very often, the top comments in a story are either explanations or requests for explanations followed by explanations, maybe followed by more requests for clarification. I also bet I can find more people here proud of their ignorance about say, Haskell monads, than about guns, judging by how loud they are about it. Finally, Justin Bieber is a subject of a different nature--his prominence in culture is disproportionately higher than his importance, so people usually don't want to hear about it. Not a fair comparison.