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As a writer of critical comments of "hacker" school, I think this is typical of the times. If you call out somebody you are dismissed as a debbie-downer, cynica

by alecco 12y ago

As a writer of critical comments of "hacker" school, I think this is typical of the times. If you call out somebody you are dismissed as a debbie-downer, cynical asshat, or other things like that. This comes from a culture now dominated by PR/marketing/sales, getting crazier by the growing viral marketing and astroturfing craze. I strongly recommend you to watch Smile or Die, a talk by Barbara Ehrenreich. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5um8QWWRvo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5um8QWWRvo The parallel with that is a delusion SOLD to the community. In the case of "hacker" school I criticize it as I did with the "MBA" program by Seth Godin. And I consider that I might be _completely_ wrong in both cases, but what is telling is how aggressive people got with me for speaking up my opinion.

tptacek 12y ago
That does not appear to be true of Hacker School.
- alecco 12y ago
  May I differ with my opinion? That's the point of my comment. Thanks for the downvotes proving my point. Edit: clarifying, I got very, very angry replies and dozens of downvotes at the time. Monoculture leads to fixed mindset and drives smart people away. Edit 2: I didn't downvote you (I prefer words in this case). My comment was in the negative when you replied, but surprisingly it's risen to positive. Thank you, whoever you are. This gives me hope on HN community.
mwfunk 12y ago
Generally speaking, "calling someone out" is being a debbie-downer and/or cynical asshat. If you're calling someone out, then by definition you are not voicing a disagreement with a particular perspective, you are attacking an individual. Whenever I disagree with someone, I try really hard to come across as "the thing that you are saying is wrong" instead of "you are wrong". The former is a statement about a belief, the latter is a statement about a person. It's human nature to have a reflexive, defensive reaction to someone if you think they're attacking you rather than something you said.

by alecco 12y ago

tptacek 12y ago

That does not appear to be true of Hacker School.

alecco 12y ago
May I differ with my opinion? That's the point of my comment. Thanks for the downvotes proving my point. Edit: clarifying, I got very, very angry replies and dozens of downvotes at the time. Monoculture leads to fixed mindset and drives smart people away. Edit 2: I didn't downvote you (I prefer words in this case). My comment was in the negative when you replied, but surprisingly it's risen to positive. Thank you, whoever you are. This gives me hope on HN community.

mwfunk 12y ago

Generally speaking, "calling someone out" is being a debbie-downer and/or cynical asshat. If you're calling someone out, then by definition you are not voicing a disagreement with a particular perspective, you are attacking an individual. Whenever I disagree with someone, I try really hard to come across as "the thing that you are saying is wrong" instead of "you are wrong". The former is a statement about a belief, the latter is a statement about a person. It's human nature to have a reflexive, defensive reaction to someone if you think they're attacking you rather than something you said.