re-warning

[zzyzx_xyzzy]

Sometimes, I do M-x troll-mode before I write. You should probably know this about me. No offense to persons who may feel referenced is intended.

Know also this. I am never insincere about the point I am trying to make when in troll-mode. Any offense to ideas referenced is definitely intended.

Comments

[pielology]

I still think it's no fun if you don't leave comments on.

I WANT TO SEE A FIGHT.

[zzyzx_xyzzy]

but then people would comment and it would be stupid and I'm restraining myself from making a mess in that other thread anyway and eurgh.

[pielology]

It would be entertaining and we still have popcorn in the cupboard.

[gfish]

No offense taken. Your summary of my argument is reasonably correct, though I hasten to add I did not intend any hysteria in the conclusion. It was merely an observation of an interesting side-effect of the ongoing march of technology. It happens all the time -- skills do, for all practical purposes, die. Those who want to learn real map reading skills still will, same as I have with celestial navigation, morse code, etc. If you think it is hyperbole to go from 'vanishingly small percentage of the population' to 'dead', that's fair. It seems weird to attack someone for privilege, though, for a post on their personal blog which explicitly acknowledged that they were, in part, bragging.

[pielology]

It seems weird to attack someone for privilege, though, for a post on their personal blog which explicitly acknowledged that they were, in part, bragging.

No weirder than it is to suggest that bragging about the skills you have had the leisure to acquire and the devices you have purchased that make those skills less useful should somehow provide a context in which privilege is irrelevant.

It's not really the bragging that's the issue, though, so much as when people start making assumptions about how/why others might (not) learn various skills. And about the kinds of skills required by the activities that I do, vs. the activities that some other group of people prefers.

[katybeth]

Aw, I missed all the fun.

When I read the updated post this morning, I had a non-inflammatory (I hope!) suggestion for the missing step, but now you'll never know!

[katybeth]

I'd have extracted an inflammatory hidden assumption from underneath it anyway. Comments were disabled for a reason.

[katybeth]

I don't doubt it. Don't forget to disable troll-mode when you're done with it. I hate it when I forget it's on and it automatically propagates into new buffers. :)