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People Call Me Aaron

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Re: People Call Me Aaron

#71

Post by lotharbot »

frogpelt wrote: post #62
grownseed wrote: post #59

Obviously not of the same gravity, but a good part of my childhood was spent being called by my big brother's name. Family, friends, teachers, you name it. It's a hard one, because I think my brother is an amazing guy, and evidently so do other people, but it's ultimately belittling. A math teacher, who had my brother for a single year, called me by his name for the whole three years I knew/had her. By that point, it…

This has happened to me a lot in my life--in fact one of my high school teachers called me my brother's name the entire school year. But I didn't feel belittled. Some people are just bad with names. I've figured out how to break people of the habit: call them the name of their sibling. This fixes it real quick like.

One of my high school teachers had a rule that any time he called a student by a sibling's name, they got a point of extra credit.

It happened most class periods to somebody, and that was with him being very deliberate about asking people to point it out and trying very hard not to do it.

Re: People Call Me Aaron

#72

Post by AlexB138 »

zephod wrote: post #20

This is so sad. I wonder if Noah has considered moving abroad for a bit - in my experience, very few people in the London tech scene know who Aaron Swartz was, or if they've heard the name they will struggle to remember the story behind it. Maybe people will disagree, but I don't think the story had quite the same cultural resonance outside the USA.

I'm in a rather large city with a big tech presence in the US, but not the Valley. Not to be crass, but the conversations I heard surround Swartz were only when he killed himself. No one talked about it as if it was a cultural touch stone and I would be fairly surprised if most of my peers remember who he is. I think it's largely a Valley/YCombinator community thing.

Re: People Call Me Aaron

#73

Post by froo »

mej10 wrote: post #18
Kluny wrote: post #12

How is it possible for anyone who knows who Aaron is to not know that he's dead? How could they possibly mistake his brother for him to the extent of thoughtlessly calling him the wrong name?

It is very common (especially as you get older) to mix up names for people that are in the same mental category while you are speaking. It isn't necessarily thoughtlessness. Sometimes our brains just don't work quite right.

> It is very common (especially as you get older) to mix up names for people that are in the same mental category while you are speaking

Exactly this. My mother calls me by my dead brother's name all the time. I'm pretty sure if anyone was aware of his death, she would be (given she was with him at the time).

Re: People Call Me Aaron

#74

Post by kyle4211 »

0xEFF wrote: post #34
JohnBooty wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I was wondering too. I'm terrible with names, but I literally can't imagine that kind of mixup. Not that I doubt anything Noah wrote; I just don't get it.

I think people, maybe even Noah included, are reading a bit too much into what seems to be a simple case of crossed wires, or neurons, in this case. Just this weekend I called my cousin, whom I've been close friends with for over a decade, by his brother's name. It was the first time I've seen him in about a year but we've been very close for very long. I was thinking about his brother in the moment I meant to use hi…

It doesn't sound like Noah's reading too much into crossed wires.

He's just expressing how it's hard on him when people do get their wires crossed.

Re: People Call Me Aaron

#75

Post by stevewilhelm »

AlexB138 wrote: post #72
zephod wrote: post #20

This is so sad. I wonder if Noah has considered moving abroad for a bit - in my experience, very few people in the London tech scene know who Aaron Swartz was, or if they've heard the name they will struggle to remember the story behind it. Maybe people will disagree, but I don't think the story had quite the same cultural resonance outside the USA.

I'm in a rather large city with a big tech presence in the US, but not the Valley. Not to be crass, but the conversations I heard surround Swartz were only when he killed himself. No one talked about it as if it was a cultural touch stone and I would be fairly surprised if most of my peers remember who he is. I think it's largely a Valley/YCombinator community thing.

I live in the valley and work in the city, but I lived through the first dot com bubble. I read the entire original post without recognizing either brother. Had to google them to recall the story.

Re: People Call Me Aaron

#76

Post by petke »

zephod wrote: post #20

This is so sad. I wonder if Noah has considered moving abroad for a bit - in my experience, very few people in the London tech scene know who Aaron Swartz was, or if they've heard the name they will struggle to remember the story behind it. Maybe people will disagree, but I don't think the story had quite the same cultural resonance outside the USA.

I cant help but think it quite easy to stay anonymous as a programmer. That its the default. I never really understood what people mean by the "tech scene". Its like you guys meet up or something.

I have rarely meet other programmers apart from the few ones at work, and usually we don't socialise outside of work. I think this is the norm. I haven't noticed any kind of scene. The average programmer is quite anonymous. You code, and then you go home. Maybe you go drinking with your flatmates, one of who might be a plumber and the other a teacher. They don't talk to you about about plumbing, and you don't talk to them about programming. You talk about football or whatever.

I think it might help Noah to just live the life of the average programmer, and not go to all these political or tech conventions where your brother image has a life of its own. Not to socialise exclusively with people who are in the same line of work as you are.

Re: People Call Me Aaron

#77

Post by joe563323 »

AlexB138 wrote: post #72
zephod wrote: post #20

This is so sad. I wonder if Noah has considered moving abroad for a bit - in my experience, very few people in the London tech scene know who Aaron Swartz was, or if they've heard the name they will struggle to remember the story behind it. Maybe people will disagree, but I don't think the story had quite the same cultural resonance outside the USA.

I'm in a rather large city with a big tech presence in the US, but not the Valley. Not to be crass, but the conversations I heard surround Swartz were only when he killed himself. No one talked about it as if it was a cultural touch stone and I would be fairly surprised if most of my peers remember who he is. I think it's largely a Valley/YCombinator community thing.

It is true most came to know about Aron after his death, but is not possible to forget some one who has sacrificed their life in the same period we live in.

Re: People Call Me Aaron

#78

Post by megablast »

tim333 wrote: post #69
froo wrote: post #66

My brother committed suicide after facing a prison sentence. It is a really difficult thing that when you meet people (even for years afterwards, it still happens to this day 13 years on) and they just want to talk about the circumstances behind his suicide and the things that get him to that point. Having people consistently drag it up for you really hurts at times. I also have experienced the name-calling thing. My…

Good luck. It surprises me that the US supports such a vicious law enforcement system compared to the rest of the developed world - I'm a Brit and ours leans the other way towards being a bit easy going.

It is not all so easy going in the UK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jean_Charles_de_Menez...

Re: People Call Me Aaron

#79

Post by cortesoft »

petke wrote: post #76
zephod wrote: post #20

This is so sad. I wonder if Noah has considered moving abroad for a bit - in my experience, very few people in the London tech scene know who Aaron Swartz was, or if they've heard the name they will struggle to remember the story behind it. Maybe people will disagree, but I don't think the story had quite the same cultural resonance outside the USA.

I cant help but think it quite easy to stay anonymous as a programmer. That its the default. I never really understood what people mean by the "tech scene". Its like you guys meet up or something. I have rarely meet other programmers apart from the few ones at work, and usually we don't socialise outside of work. I think this is the norm. I haven't noticed any kind of scene. The average programmer is quite anonymous.…

Do you live in the Bay Area or Silicon Valley? I think it is a lot different there.

Also, some people participate in the "scene" while others don't. I used to go to more meet-ups and hacks-a-thons, but not so much anymore. I am not sure which is the norm.

Re: People Call Me Aaron

#80

Post by petke »

cortesoft wrote: post #79
petke wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cant help but think it quite easy to stay anonymous as a programmer. That its the default. I never really understood what people mean by the "tech scene". Its like you guys meet up or something. I have rarely meet other programmers apart from the few ones at work, and usually we don't socialise outside of work. I think this is the norm. I haven't noticed any kind of scene. The average programmer is quite anonymous.…

Do you live in the Bay Area or Silicon Valley? I think it is a lot different there. Also, some people participate in the "scene" while others don't. I used to go to more meet-ups and hacks-a-thons, but not so much anymore. I am not sure which is the norm.

Yeah, it seems like a "Silicon Valley" thing. The whole thing seems quite mysterious to me. I worked in (4) random cities in the UK. But even in London, I didn't notice a scene.

Maybe its also a thing more with web development and start ups. Where the whole company can be mostly tech people, and where most people are young (so socialize outside of work more).

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