Re: BULLSHIT, was RE: [SG] HAMR

On Sun, 17 Mar 2002 12:30:56 -0500, Ryan Gill <rmgill@mindspring.com>
wrote :

> At 6:36 PM -0500 3/16/02, John Crimmins wrote:
> >
> ><Whistling>
> >
> >"He's been stabbed in the back, he's been misunderstood,
> >It's a comfort to know his intentions are good.
> >And he sits in a room with a lock on the door,
> >With his maps and his medals laid out on the floor-
> >And he likes to be known as the angry young man."
> >
> ></Whistling>
> 
> I think I take moderate offense to this. (Likely far less so than John
does.)
> 
> The .50 Cal BMG myth is not unlike the NASA never went to the moon 
> myth with people in the space industry. It really pisses them off 
> because it's so based on really spurious logic and bad data. Just a 
> little looking around and you'd get a better idea. Frankly I don't 
> blame them. There are a few misconceptions and idiotic things that 
> set me off related to work.

Hey, I'm willing to bet that I deal with more ignorance on a daily basis
than the rest of this list combined -- it's the nature of my job.  My
favorite was the 
teenaged girl who refused to believe that Beethoven was a composer, and
not a dog ("I've seen the movie!"), but the guy who insisted that
Indiana Jones 
was not only real, but had a tobacco pouch made of bits of his own
mother's anatomy ("...and so I wanted to know if you had any books that
could show 
me how to tan human hide.") runs a close second.  And then there's the
folks who accuse us of luring kids to witchcraft...but the less said
about them, the 
better.

And you can call me a nut, you can me call me a crazy dreamer....

<CROWD: Nut!  Crazy dreamer!>

...but I try to be polite to these folks.  Yes, it's my job...but it's
also the civilized way to behave.  Maybe it's the way I was raised; I
try to save my anger for 
the people that really deserve it, the ones who are actually malicious. 
If someone speaks in ignorance, you correct them.  Politely.  There's no
shame in 
not knowing something (With each passing year, I realize how much I
*don't* know.  I'll never catch up!), unless they consciously choose to
remain 
ignorant.  In that case, all bets are off...but even then, I try to be
patient.  We all have our blind spots, after all.

But to get *that* abusive towards someone who made a mistake?  That's
rude, ignorant, and flat-out obnoxious, and I have a difficult time
excusing 
someone for that kind of behavior because someone "pushed the wrong
button."  If you can't carry on an adult conversation, then try shutting
the hell up 
until you're calm enough to do so.

Of course, what do I know?  I gave a kid a Harry Potter book yesterday. 
One more Satanist in the world, all because of me.

-- 
John Crimmins
johncrim@voicenet.com