24 May 2001 (updated 24 May 2001 at 20:56 UTC)
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More and more lately, I realize that the Free Software /
Open Source community is primarily a load of bullshit. To
be sure, there are talented, smart, and pleasant people out
there, and if you're lucky you get to work with them on
projects. But that's true no matter where you work, be it
Free Software or locked up in some proprietary development
house.
There seem to be lots of people out there, however, who
think they're entitled to stick their fingers in the pie
when the sad fact is, they don't know shit. I'm talking
about the hangers-on, the asshole "journalists", the
slashdot crowd... you know what I mean. I don't begrudge
them their right to use Free Software -- hell, that's part
of the reason we do what we do! -- but I just don't
understand where all of the rudeness, the anger, the
righteous indignation comes from, especially when they have
no idea what they're talking about.
It's frustrating enough tackling difficult technical
issues. It's exacerbated when those technical issues have
all sorts of political baggage tied to them. But it really
sucks when you have to do it while dealing with a constant
barrage of angry people, all of whom think they know more
than you do, except that they don't and instead rely on you
to do all of the work.
Of course, now that I think about it, I realize this
syndrome probably isn't limited to Free Software. People
are always arrogant, judgemental, and convinced of their own
superiority. They probably always have been and probably
always will be. Increasingly I have to ask myself, what's
the point?
Oh, and this morning on the way to work, while getting
off of the T, a woman started shoving people out of her way
to get onto the train as soon as the doors open, before
anyone had gotten out. I was content to let it go with a
dirty look, but an older man behind me turned and told her
off. So she started hitting him with her umbrella.
Sometimes violence is so appealing, it's all I can do to
stop myself. Because I've reached a point where I begin to
feel that no matter what you do, there will probably always
be people who are so sheltered from the consequences of
their own actions, so protected by society, so far removed
from the formerly harsh realities of life, that the only
thing you could ever do to get through to them is to inflict
pain.
And people wonder why I don't like myself very much.