On Fri, 16 Jun 2000, Chris Nandor wrote:
>>>There's nothing so-called about the hacker mentality. It exists. I live
>>>it.
>>
>>Who is denying it? I am talking about a specific characterization of
>>it, which includes things like "hackers read SF, frequently quoting
>>out of it", "hackers like silly puns", etc. That sort of thing, as
>>I said, hurts the hacker image quite a lot.
>
>But isn't it true?
>
>And how does it hurt?
Well... I would like to be a "hacker", to whatever extent. I
don't read SF anymore, I don't quote from it, I think silly
puns are beneath me, and my idea of "linguistic playfulness"
is quite different from what you see in (e.g.) the hacker's
dictionary. Consider how extremely limiting it is to force
irrelevant aspects of your self-image on a politically
important definition. (This, when I think about it, is a
good summary of R******ism.) Why it hurts should be obvious:
"no one likes a nerd". I.e. "who wants to listen to hackers
if there are only thirty of them?". Anyway, I am going too
far afield.
--
Tushar Samant
~
~
:wq
