This is a thorough once-over giving the lie to the "conservatives'" self-serving bullshit squealing that "Butbutbutbutbut if you don't tolerate my intolerance you're a hypocrite!" The short version, as put forth in the article, is this: tolerance is a peace treaty, not a suicide pact.
Put another way, it's social technology, just like laws. It allows us, in an ever-more-connected global society, to exist and function. Like a treaty it covers those, and only those, who are party to it.
This means that if you're a genocidal fucking psychopath then no, Virginia, we do not have to "tolerate" your unhinged ramblings. You are cancer in the body politic. You have gleefully ripped your human card to shreds and dropped the pieces in an incinerator, cackling like a hyena on PCP at how you have "owned the libs." You have placed yourselves outside the treaty. We are not obligated to put up with your shit.
tl;dr: if you can't behave like a civilized human being, don't be surprised when you get treated like a rabid animal. Read and be better, or don't, it's your choice, but don't bitch when you get your find-outs.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 29, @10:21PM
(2 children)
by Anonymous Coward
on Saturday April 29, @10:21PM (#1303965)
Ignoring the fact that "meeting a specification" isn't a normative virtue, the notion of meeting their specification is self-contradictory in your analogy. On its face, you move away from meeting what they want by trying to follow their specification perfectly; the "better" specification follower is, in fact, the person who imperfectly follows the imperfect specification for they are the ones that will actually effectuate the true desires. In addition, specifications are snapshots of desire while actual desires are affected by the passage of time and perspective and a perfect specification follower would have spotted the insufficient specification in the first place.
Furthermore, a programmer has different goals, perspectives, and motivations. Inherently, being a "good" programmer in practice often means breaking the virtue of following the specification in order to effectuate a (working, cost-effective, deliverable, legal, etc.) program because they know that informal specifications are inaccurate by nature or must bend to the demands of the Universe. In truth, possession of "meets specification" as a virtue is, by necessity, the full embracing of all the considerations underlying their actions. A "good programmer" (or specification meeter) isn't simply someone who creates a program that does what it is supposed to do. Nor do they, as aspect of their character follow the specification just because that is what should be done. Instead, it is the holistic balancing of considerations and judgments in order to actualize the state of being underlying those ideas. And it that, they live the virtues instead of acting the virtues.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 29, @10:21PM (2 children)
Ignoring the fact that "meeting a specification" isn't a normative virtue, the notion of meeting their specification is self-contradictory in your analogy. On its face, you move away from meeting what they want by trying to follow their specification perfectly; the "better" specification follower is, in fact, the person who imperfectly follows the imperfect specification for they are the ones that will actually effectuate the true desires. In addition, specifications are snapshots of desire while actual desires are affected by the passage of time and perspective and a perfect specification follower would have spotted the insufficient specification in the first place.
Furthermore, a programmer has different goals, perspectives, and motivations. Inherently, being a "good" programmer in practice often means breaking the virtue of following the specification in order to effectuate a (working, cost-effective, deliverable, legal, etc.) program because they know that informal specifications are inaccurate by nature or must bend to the demands of the Universe. In truth, possession of "meets specification" as a virtue is, by necessity, the full embracing of all the considerations underlying their actions. A "good programmer" (or specification meeter) isn't simply someone who creates a program that does what it is supposed to do. Nor do they, as aspect of their character follow the specification just because that is what should be done. Instead, it is the holistic balancing of considerations and judgments in order to actualize the state of being underlying those ideas. And it that, they live the virtues instead of acting the virtues.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 01, @08:10AM (1 child)
Yep, it was a mistake to get rid of the philosopher. Code monkeys are not a acceptable substitute.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 06, @08:01AM
Won't you come home, aristarchus, won't you come home? We missed you all the long time!