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I agree there's a power fantasy element to them, but they're a reflection of sysadmins' lack of real power. They're at the bottom of the pecking order and are
by dkarl 5y ago
I agree there's a power fantasy element to them, but they're a reflection of sysadmins' lack of real power. They're at the bottom of the pecking order and are only noticed when things go wrong, or when users want to project their own frustrations onto somebody lower in the office pecking order. They have incredible destructive potential at their fingertips yet no way to use it in the protection of their own dignity, since doing their job well means taking abuse silently when it's directed at them. Pushing back against misdirected blame and anger would go against the real power structure and would be castigated as a lack of empathy for the poor users.
Honestly, the best sysadmins are probably the ones who resort to fantasies like this. Real unscrupulous sysadmins can force people to kiss their ass before they'll do their job. If you've ever worked in an office where the sysadmin is a highly visible and highly respected person, and everyone is keen to treat them well and be on their good side, it's because they've made it their policy to do the simplest aspects of their job grudgingly, theatrically, and only after a lot of cajoling. Meanwhile at another company there's somebody doing the same job ten times better but getting treated like an intern precisely because they do the job better, without forcing people to beg. And that sysadmin is the one who needs the power fantasy.
(I was not sure whether to use the present tense or past tense in this post. My memories of company sysadmins are from the 1990s and early 2000s, and I have no idea if sysadmins like that exist anymore.)
- teddyh 5y agoI feel that a real “power fantasy” would be to depict a fight against the ignominy, not in petty acts of malice against the undeserving.
- Maursault 5y agoWell, there's something to be said for lightening up, and unless assaulted, we choose to be offended. I suppose, similarly, most really can't stand Jerry nor find his behavior humorous; he's such a jerk to Tom. The art of parody can be low or high brow. I suppose there is some low brow parody I do not appreciate (e.g. Jim Carrey's Fire Marshal Bill Burns I find disturbing), but BOFH hits too close to home for me to criticize (beyond literary). Some users can be demanding, needy, ungrateful pieces of work, and fantasizing about retaliation without consequences relieves pressure. Contrast BOFH to dissident heating engineer Harry Tuttle, not opposites, but somewhat complimentary. BOFH is probably more believable, but Harry wins the absurdity contest. Also compare both to Dr. Gregory House and the characters on Seinfeld. I will not explain why we sometimes like horrible people, but I think it is intersting that Tuttle stands out conspicuously gallant and heroic among them. We even like antiheroes in work that is not parody, such as Clint Eastwood's unnamed characters, Han Solo, Michael Corleone and Rambo. There are other crossovers like BOFH, such as Captain Jack Sparrow, a character that is similarly both a parody and an antihero, or Alex DeLarge, a satiric antihero. Also notable is Mr. Robot's Elliot Alderson, perhaps a closely-related descendent of BOFH.
- 2-718-281-828 5y agoMy psychological intuition tells me that the one with power phantasies is the cajoling sysadmin - not the humble one. I find it weird that you would think it's the other way around.
- dkarl 5y agoI would think it would be weird to fantasize about taking drastic, socially unsanctioned action to deal with circumstances that you are already dealing with effectively in real life. People do commonly fantasize about using violence to escape humiliating situations, but very few people take violent action against their tormentors, so it stands to reason that most of the people who fantasize about violence aren't violent in real life.
- 2-718-281-828 5y agosomebody resorting to cajoling is maybe acting "effectively" but certainly not "efficiently" with regard to personal menal hygiene and most likely suffers from that behaviour. also I'd suspect a source for this behaviour which might well be engaging in rage phantasies about how to respond to perceived injustice and disrespect by peers.