3 ms·

I understand and respect your point of view. I even agree with it in general. But in this particular case, it seems really off. The issue has been debated ad na

I understand and respect your point of view. I even agree with it in general. But in this particular case, it seems really off. The issue has been debated ad nauseam so it makes no sense to repeat the arguments, and it looks like there are two camps and it is going to stay this way. But this is supposed to be an interview with the creator of Bash, and the interviewer suddenly pops in with his opinions about RMS, talking about him in very base terms - but nobody even asked him about it! My point is if we, as a community, start to ignore these acts of passive of active aggression, we will become worse as human beings - and hence my reaction. (And at the same time I'm sorry to see you intervene - I admire your hard work and I'm happy that thanks to you HN is a better place.)

tomhoward 5y ago
Or, we become worse as human beings if we react with intense charged emotion every time a particular thing is mentioned, creating a situation where we can easily be baited into reacting, and where perpetual tit-for-tat outrage is normalised. Let’s try for something other than that.
- hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
  Maybe, I'm not sure. It's not even about RMS. Imagine an interview with Rob Pike and the interviewer saying, "Tom Howard did so many bad things I'm ashamed to share his name." It's just plain wrong. You don't do these kinds as a decent human being. When you are talking to your colleague - fine. Even if the interviewee specifically asked your opinions on a person you hate, a well-behaved person would answer "I'd prefer not to talk about this" or "we're not on good terms", something like that. You simply don't do thing like this one publicly.
  - tomhoward 5y ago
    I know what you mean, I really do. I've been spoken about in pretty harsh terms at various times, and yep, it cut deep, and I've also been sensitive to public attacks on others I admired, or even didn't much admire but could see myself in their shoes. So yep, I get it. But over time I've learned that if you do anything that challenges the status quo, you'll attract public criticism and worse. Some of it may be valid, in which case the target wins by learning from it. In other cases it's unfounded and cruel, and thus it reflects more on the attacker than the target, and the way to win is by being unaffected and just walking away. A sure way to lose is for it to affect your own sense of inner peace and react in a way that perpetuates the negativity.

tomhoward 5y ago

Or, we become worse as human beings if we react with intense charged emotion every time a particular thing is mentioned, creating a situation where we can easily be baited into reacting, and where perpetual tit-for-tat outrage is normalised. Let’s try for something other than that.

hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
Maybe, I'm not sure. It's not even about RMS. Imagine an interview with Rob Pike and the interviewer saying, "Tom Howard did so many bad things I'm ashamed to share his name." It's just plain wrong. You don't do these kinds as a decent human being. When you are talking to your colleague - fine. Even if the interviewee specifically asked your opinions on a person you hate, a well-behaved person would answer "I'd prefer not to talk about this" or "we're not on good terms", something like that. You simply don't do thing like this one publicly.
- tomhoward 5y ago
  I know what you mean, I really do. I've been spoken about in pretty harsh terms at various times, and yep, it cut deep, and I've also been sensitive to public attacks on others I admired, or even didn't much admire but could see myself in their shoes. So yep, I get it. But over time I've learned that if you do anything that challenges the status quo, you'll attract public criticism and worse. Some of it may be valid, in which case the target wins by learning from it. In other cases it's unfounded and cruel, and thus it reflects more on the attacker than the target, and the way to win is by being unaffected and just walking away. A sure way to lose is for it to affect your own sense of inner peace and react in a way that perpetuates the negativity.