I don't think your characterization of society is necessarily all that universal. I'm from the southern US, where people are known for hospitality and politene

I don't think your characterization of society is necessarily all that universal. I'm from the southern US, where people are known for hospitality and politeness, and I often see things said on places like the LKML that make me go, "If you said that to me in person in that way, I'd punch you in the face." And, to be clear, to me, punching the person in the face is not nearly as rude or unacceptable as whatever they said. I'm trying to get used to the fact that different people have different social norms. I still think people like Linus have _inferior_ social norms, though. (Though he may be an exception, since his style seems to work so damn well.)