Observations on the List - "Be More Kind"

[Gene Heskett]

On Wednesday 10 October 2018 14:27:32 Larry Martell wrote:

> On Fri, Oct 5, 2018 at 6:54 AM Bruce Coram <brucecoram at clara.co.uk> 
wrote:
> > I will declare at the outset, I am a lurker.  I don't know enough
> > about Python to give advice that I could 100% guarantee would be
> > helpful.
> >
> > There have been two recent threads that summarise for me where the
> > Python Mailing List has lost its way (and this started before Trump
> > arrived as a new role model for how to treat your fellow man):
>
> I do not think a Trump reference is approprate here at all. I could
> start a political rant here, but I won't.
>
> If you think this list is harsh you must not have been on the internet
> very long.
>
> This is a post that was going around back in 1996:
>
> Welcome to the Internet.
>
> No one here likes you.
>
> We're going to offend, insult, abuse, and belittle the living hell out
> of you. And when you rail against us with "FUCK YOU YOU GEEK WIMP
> SKATER GOTH LOSER PUNK FAG BITCH!1!!", we smile to ourselves. We laugh
> at you because you don't get it. Then we turn up the heat, hoping to
> draw more entertainment from your irrational fuming.
>
> We will judge you, and we will find you unworthy. It is a trial by
> fire, and we won't even think about turning down the flames until you
> finally understand.
>
> Some of you are smart enough to realize that, when you go online, it's
> like entering a foreign country ... and you know better than to
> ignorantly fuck with the locals. You take the time to listen and think
> before speaking. You learn, and by learning are gladly welcomed.
>
> For some of you, it takes a while, then one day it all dawns on you -
> you get it, and are welcomed into the fold.
>
> Some of you give up, and we breathe a sigh of relief - we didn't want
> you here anyway. And some of you just never get it. The offensively
> clueless have a special place in our hearts - as objects of ridicule.
> We don't like you, but we do love you.
>
> You will get mad. You will tell us to go to hell, and call us "nerds"
> and "geeks". Don't bother ... we already know exactly what we are.
> And, much like the way hardcore rap has co-opted the word "nigger",
> turning an insult around on itself to become a semiserious badge of
> honor, so have we done.
>
> "How dare you! I used to beat the crap out of punks like you in high
> school/college!" You may have owned the playing field because you were
> an athlete. You may have owned the student council because you were
> more popular. You may have owned the hallways and sidewalks because
> you were big and intimidating. Well, welcome to our world.
>
> Things like athleticism, popularity, and physical prowess mean nothing
> here. We place no value on them ... or what car you drive, the size of
> your bank account, what you do for a living or where you went to
> school.
>
> Allow us to introduce you to the concept of a "meritocracy" - the
> closest thing to a form of self-government we have. In The United
> Meritocratic nation-states of the Internet, those who can do, rule.
> Those who wish to rule, learn. Everyone else watches from the stands.
>
> You may posses everything in the off-line world. We don't care. You
> come to the Internet penniless, lacking the only thing of real value
> here: knowledge.
>
> "Who cares? The Internet isn't real anyway!" This attitude is
> universally unacceptable. The Internet is real. Real people live
> behind those handles and screen names. Real machines allow it to
> exist. It's real enough to change government policy, real enough to
> feed the world's hungry, and even, for some of us, real enough to earn
> us a paycheck. Using your own definition, how "real" is your job? Your
> stock portfolio? Your political party? What is the meaning of "real",
> anyway?
>
> Do I sound arrogant? Sure ... to you. Because you probably don't get
> it yet.
>
> If you insist on staying, then, at the very least, follow this advice:
>
> 1) No one, ESPECIALLY YOU, will make any law respecting an
> establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
> or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of
> the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a
> redress of grievances.
>
> 2) Use your brain before ever putting fingers to keys.
>
> 3) Do you want a picture of you getting anally raped by Bill Clinton
> while you're performing oral sex on a cow saved to hundreds of
> thousands of people's hard drives? No? Then don't put your fucking
> picture on the Internet. We can, will, and probably already HAVE
> altered it in awful ways. Expect it to show up on an equally offensive
> website.
>
> 4) Realize that you are never, EVER going to get that, or any other,
> offensive web page taken down. Those of us who run those sites LIVE to
> piss off people like you. Those of us who don't run those sites
> sometimes visit them just to read the hatemail from fools like you.
>
> 5) Oh, you say you're going to a lawyer? Be prepared for us to giggle
> with girlish delight, and for your lawyer to laugh in your face after
> he explains current copyright and parody law.
>
> 6) The Web is not the Internet. Stop referring to it that way.
>
> 7) We have already received the e-mail you are about to forward to us.
> Shut up.
>
> 8) Don't reply to spam. You are not going to be "unsubscribed".
>
> 9) Don't ever use the term "cyberspace" (only William Gibson gets to
> say that, and even he hasn't really used it for two or three books
> now). Likewise, you prove yourself a marketing-hype victim if you ever
> use the term "surfing".
>
> 10) With one or two notable exceptions, chat rooms will not get you
> laid.
>
> 11) It's a hoax, not a virus warning.
>
> 12) The internet is made up of thousands of computers, all connected
> but owned by different people. Learn how to use *your* computer before
> attempting to connect it to someone else's.
>
> 13) The first person who offers to help you is really just trying to
> fuck with you for entertainment. So is the second. And the third. And
> me.
>
> 14) Never insult someone who's been active in any group longer than
> you have. You may as well paint a damn target on your back.
>
> 15) Never get comfortable and arrogant behind your supposed mask of
> anonymity. Don't be surprised when your name, address, and home phone
> number get thrown back in your smug face. Hell, some of us will
> snail-mail you a printed satellite photograph of your house to drive
> the point home. Realize that you are powerless if this happens ...
> it's all public information, and information is our stock and trade.
>
> 16) No one thinks you are as cool as you think you are.
>
> 17) You aren't going to win any argument that you start.
>
> 18) If you're on AOL, don't worry about anything I've said here.
> You're already a fucking laughing stock, and there's no hope for you.
>
> 19) If you can't take a joke, immediately sell your computer to
> someone who can. RIGHT NOW.
>
> Pissed off? It's the TRUTH, not these words, that hurts your feelings.
> Don't ever even pretend like I've gone & hurt them.
>
> We don't like you. We don't want you here. We never will. Save us all
> the trouble and go away.

Larry, I laughed my ass off when this came around in about that time 
frame the first time I saw it, long before I was invited to the 
off-topic list.  And I'm laughing again right now.  Thanks for digging 
it out of the archives.

Take care Larry.



-- 
Cheers, Gene Heskett
--
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>