3 ms·

I personally don't believe that the passage of time gives one the right to condescension.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
seanmcdirmid 13y ago
When you have a bunch of idealistic yelling "come here, its perfect," you can't help but feel irked by it. But I think you are right, people should learn on their own; wisdom can't easily be transferred.
- doorhammer 13y ago
  I am completely on board with pointing out where a blog post or comment went wrong. In this case, I'm even fine with saying that the post sounds idealistic. I just still think you can reply with a civil critique that at least tries to sound a little more objective and a little less vitriolic. Reply with information, sources, or personal experiences, and try to put them out there with a little less venom. I get that it takes more time, and no one can expect that from everyone, but if the goal really is to educate and transfer wisdom, there has to be an understanding that it's not easy to do that and that couching the rhetoric with sarcasm is antithetical to the cause. When I read the comments I want information and opinions. I don't want to have to contend with aggression and condescension. I know that's all a bit starry eyed, and that there are few things that are absolute, this among them, but by and large that's how I feel about this sort of thing.
  - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
    As a struggling writer, I value some amount of vitriolic/venom/sarcasm as color that can make an otherwise dry post read better; pure bland information alone is hard to digest without sugar or even grapefruit bitterness. I'm not able to do it very well, so I don't try, but I see value in those that can. The commenter's post was informative, colorful, and tasteful in my opinion, but I understand there are also people out there who are extremely sensitive and easily offended...like say those who find many flavors offensive and prefer blandness. But as for my original point, I would always trust the snarker in this case over the harmonious river crab: based on my experience, the former's information is actually more useful than the latter's. Call it an imperfect generalization.
    - doorhammer 13y ago
      Yeah, I can understand that perspective, and I'm really conflicted about that kind of thing. I try to ascribe to a pragmatists view of it. I should say that I'm also not someone who has done a lot of formal study of communication and education, but I tend to think that abrasive language tends to stifle discourse to a point. I'm amenable to the idea that it's got its place and that it can be useful. I just wonder how often it's useful compared to how often it's used. To me it's a matter of figuring out whether or not you're really trying to educate as many people as you can, and which delivery method is most powerful for that goal. I think you can accomplish that without attacking someone else. Of course there's the idea that emotional responses can catalyze a more poignant memory, and as you say, draw more attention to your point. shrug And this is why I drink. edit: (in reference to the response below) I should say that I've abstracted away from the concrete post that triggered all of this. Either way, this is the kind of dialogue I like. You can disagree on some things, get something out of it, and never have to get in anyone's face)
      - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
        Fair enough. I could not pull off this style very tastefully myself, so I would avoid it. Also, the lines between bland, colorful, abrasive, and abusive are not clear and are drawn differently for different people. I'm not sure if it is fair to say the commenter was "attacking someone" unless they were spewing out ad hominems, of which I didn't see any.
  - dwfer55454 13y ago
    You generation Y kids truly are bizarre. Not everything has to run via a consensus of mediocrity. No one cares what you're "fine with". No one gives a f*ck what you "want". People are gonna give you the hard truth regardless.
JaneJDunn 13y ago
my classmate's mother-in-law makes $67 an hour on the computer. She has been fired for 7 months but last month her pay check was $18297 just working on the computer for a few hours. this page ========================== http://WWW.Works23.Com http://WWW.Works23.Com
dwfer55454 13y ago
The condescension was fully justified and the commenter in question was quite accurate. As yet another jaded expat who has lived in Thailand for ~8 years, and initially arrived as a naive, idealistic backpacker, I can only agree with his comments. On the "4 Stages of Competence" scale, the OP is at stage 1.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

When you have a bunch of idealistic yelling "come here, its perfect," you can't help but feel irked by it. But I think you are right, people should learn on their own; wisdom can't easily be transferred.

doorhammer 13y ago
I am completely on board with pointing out where a blog post or comment went wrong. In this case, I'm even fine with saying that the post sounds idealistic. I just still think you can reply with a civil critique that at least tries to sound a little more objective and a little less vitriolic. Reply with information, sources, or personal experiences, and try to put them out there with a little less venom. I get that it takes more time, and no one can expect that from everyone, but if the goal really is to educate and transfer wisdom, there has to be an understanding that it's not easy to do that and that couching the rhetoric with sarcasm is antithetical to the cause. When I read the comments I want information and opinions. I don't want to have to contend with aggression and condescension. I know that's all a bit starry eyed, and that there are few things that are absolute, this among them, but by and large that's how I feel about this sort of thing.
- seanmcdirmid 13y ago
  As a struggling writer, I value some amount of vitriolic/venom/sarcasm as color that can make an otherwise dry post read better; pure bland information alone is hard to digest without sugar or even grapefruit bitterness. I'm not able to do it very well, so I don't try, but I see value in those that can. The commenter's post was informative, colorful, and tasteful in my opinion, but I understand there are also people out there who are extremely sensitive and easily offended...like say those who find many flavors offensive and prefer blandness. But as for my original point, I would always trust the snarker in this case over the harmonious river crab: based on my experience, the former's information is actually more useful than the latter's. Call it an imperfect generalization.
  - doorhammer 13y ago
    Yeah, I can understand that perspective, and I'm really conflicted about that kind of thing. I try to ascribe to a pragmatists view of it. I should say that I'm also not someone who has done a lot of formal study of communication and education, but I tend to think that abrasive language tends to stifle discourse to a point. I'm amenable to the idea that it's got its place and that it can be useful. I just wonder how often it's useful compared to how often it's used. To me it's a matter of figuring out whether or not you're really trying to educate as many people as you can, and which delivery method is most powerful for that goal. I think you can accomplish that without attacking someone else. Of course there's the idea that emotional responses can catalyze a more poignant memory, and as you say, draw more attention to your point. shrug And this is why I drink. edit: (in reference to the response below) I should say that I've abstracted away from the concrete post that triggered all of this. Either way, this is the kind of dialogue I like. You can disagree on some things, get something out of it, and never have to get in anyone's face)
    - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
      Fair enough. I could not pull off this style very tastefully myself, so I would avoid it. Also, the lines between bland, colorful, abrasive, and abusive are not clear and are drawn differently for different people. I'm not sure if it is fair to say the commenter was "attacking someone" unless they were spewing out ad hominems, of which I didn't see any.
- dwfer55454 13y ago
  You generation Y kids truly are bizarre. Not everything has to run via a consensus of mediocrity. No one cares what you're "fine with". No one gives a f*ck what you "want". People are gonna give you the hard truth regardless.

JaneJDunn 13y ago

my classmate's mother-in-law makes $67 an hour on the computer. She has been fired for 7 months but last month her pay check was $18297 just working on the computer for a few hours. this page ========================== http://WWW.Works23.Com http://WWW.Works23.Com

dwfer55454 13y ago

The condescension was fully justified and the commenter in question was quite accurate. As yet another jaded expat who has lived in Thailand for ~8 years, and initially arrived as a naive, idealistic backpacker, I can only agree with his comments. On the "4 Stages of Competence" scale, the OP is at stage 1.