On Tue, 17 Jul 2001 23:06:51 -0400 RV <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
[some interesting things in Spanish]
>
Hi Ram�n, (I assume that's your name ;-)
Thanks for the explanations. I think I didn't get you that wrong the
first time. We could have an interesting discussion about what you said,
but much of it would be off-topic here, so I'll try to be brief in my
reply.
Yes, the attitude you describe does no doubt exist and is even getting
more and more widespread. But I would classify most of the examples you
gave as examples of typical consumer behaviour in Western societies. In
other words, I am not so sure whether there is really a "natural"
tendency among human beings to personalize things or whether this is
acquired behaviour propagated for economical reasons. Note that in Asian
societies people traditionally did not feel the same urge to show off
their individuality.
I personalize my software, too, but I don't think of my "uniqueness"
then. While every person IS unique in a way, the similarities among
people are far greater than the differences, and it would make the world
a more agreeable place if the young people were educated to see and
emphasize the similarities rather than continually defending their
individuality, which they often enough do by totally inadequate means
such as buying the things publicity and prevailing trends suggest. This
behaviour only shows how easy they are to manipulate, and I think they
should be made aware of that. (Since you are working at a college, that
might be your job. ;-)
To summarize: I agree with you when you say that many people -
especially young people - may wish to change themes in order to boost
their individuality, but I disagree with THEM about whether that's a
sensible way of achieving that. And I certainly don't see the reason why one
would change themes all the time, so that a separate menu item for that
would be justified. If I were a cynic (which of course I am not ;-) I'd
say: Mozilla should not become a toy for adolescents but a stable and
efficient tool for grown-ups.
>In your signature you mentioned Victor Manuel. Are you referring to the
>Puerto Rican salsa singer? If you are, I am surprised to learn that he's
>older than me. ;-)
No, this one is a Spaniard, the husband of Ana Bel�n.
Greetings,
HP
--
Arme Maus,
komm, ruh' dich aus
auf der Datenbank.
(Georg Ringsgwandl)
::: http://www.hei-news.de/ :::
