Subject: Re: On nil qua false [was: Re: On conditionals]
From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.net>
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2001 23:22:10 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Message-ID: <3216064927754484@naggum.net>

* Bruce Hoult
| I should probably not reply to other people in the same session in which
| I have to deal with Erik.

  You imply that you are _personally_ affected by my articles.  _This_ is
  your core problem.  _This_ is how these things develop badly.  Quit it!
  Become a _professional_, and just _quit_ the stupid personal reactions.
  It is the sheer stupidity of your _professional_ opinion as posted to a
  professional forum that is attacked here.  You do _not_ have a personal
  opinion on nil vs false, or on language design.  (If you have, keep it
  yourself.)  When you post professional bullshit, you should _expect_ to
  be treated harshly.  If you do not understand this, suppose you are in a
  meeting where the object to design something, and you bring up your
  idiocy again and again and refuse to get the point.  Do you think people
  will tolerate you?  If you persist in being an idiot in a professional
  setting, you _will_ be beaten up and thrown out of the forum.  Do you
  think anyone will care how _you_ feel, when you have ignored the whole
  reason for the forum's existence?  People have a _purpose_ when they come
  to a forum like this.  The fundamental premise is that you are here to
  share information and knowledge and professional opinions in order to
  further a clearly constructive interest.  When you violate that premise,
  you are what is known on USENET as a troll.  Much less favorable terms
  are applied in real life to people who violate the premises for a forum.

  You have a moral obligation to be intelligent when you post to a forum
  for professional discussions, which you have not understood and do not
  appreciate.  If you take these things personally, you are making a very
  serious mistake.  Yet, if you are unprofessional, there is something
  wrong with _your_ attitude, not just your arguments and opinions, and
  _you_ need to fix it.  Since you are in a professional forum, critique of
  your (personal) behavior is _not_ about _you_, it is about your _role_ in
  this forum.  If you do not understand this, you will miss most of what is
  going on, here.  If you are taking things so personally that you lose
  your mental balance, you should spend time with someone who cares about
  you, even if paid to do so, and talk it out.  Newsgroups are not therapy
  sessions.

  The above quoted line was obviously intended on your part to blame me for
  your mental instability, because you think this is a forum where anyone
  cares how you feel and why.  It is not.  (People may care, but that is a
  personal choice, not the purpose of the newsgroup.)  It is increasingly
  evident that you Dylan guys are here to get personal affirmation of your
  misguided _professional_ choices, which is highly inappropriate for a
  professional forum.  If you have that kind of personal needs, imposing
  them on other people is the pinnacle of inconsiderateness and rudeness,
  but people who think their personal feelings should be on CNN every day,
  do use USENET for this.  Now, sharing personal stories is one thing, but
  demanding that other people satisfy one's personal needs is just plain
  bad behavior.  Those who think they have a "right" to push their personal
  concerns on other people never consider any other person or concerns, and
  hence do not tolerate that anybody else reprimand them for their behavior
  because those others do not have the "right" to do so in their view.
  This whole "rights" thing is very strange, and basically just nonsense.
  It is as if someone has been watching too many crime-fighting TV shows
  and think that anyone who criticizes them for anything has to follow the
  strict rules of a government agency and violate their "rights" if not.

///
-- 
  The past is not more important than the future, despite what your culture
  has taught you.  Your future observations, conclusions, and beliefs are
  more important to you than those in your past ever will be.  The world is
  changing so fast the balance between the past and the future has shifted.