Angry, vindictive, unforgiving
A side-by-side comparison:
Read about The Angriest Man In Television in the latest Atlantic:
This is a message—a searing attack on the excesses of Big Capitalism […]
and the interview on Slate linked from that same article:
[…] it’s about the very simple idea that, in this Postmodern world of ours, human beings—all of us—are worth less. We’re worth less every day, despite the fact that some of us are achieving more and more. It’s the triumph of capitalism.
and then read Zed’s rant on Rails which is really only in very small part about Rails:
Over and over again I’d run into these morons who would offer me tiny jobs, no jobs, insult my intelligence, treat me like all I can do is code, and when I didn’t fit that mold or wanted to charge them for the privilege they’d cheat me or laugh at me.
[…] I’ve done it all, but what does the slick talking shit head car sales MBA loser think I am?
Just a code monkey.
and then wonder if the voices speaking out against capital (David Simon: “When I’ve done my begging with HBO—and begging it is […]”) need to be this shrill in order to be heard.
As I wrote to Mark last night re: Zed’s rant:
[…] many of the basic sentiments - absolutism as regards technical skill, disdain for corporate management and hierarchy, an unyielding emphasis on innovation even at the expense of compatibility, a very conservative view towards money - these are expressed in one form or another by a large number of the most skilled software engineers that I’ve met.
The disconnect is between a management culture (the dreaded MBAs who figure as bogeymen in all these rants) that tolerates and accepts waste of human effort and money as a by-product of imperfect decision-making; and an engineering culture that values efficiency in investment as much as in their code, to a degree of precision that is never quite attainable.
Comments (View)
