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Techies Are the New Puritans

newrepublic.com

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Re: Techies Are the New Puritans

#41

Post by danso »

Am I not seeing the "next page" link? The subhead for this article is:

> Silicon Valley's ugly treatment of homeless people has a long history.

And the only "history" I see is:

> Greg Gopman, who is the CEO of a startup that organizes hackathons, wrote this on his Facebook page

Let's pretend there were a dozen such ugly comments in the past year from people who happen to live in Silicon Valley. What does that say about tech being the new Puritans? Nothing, as far as I can tell.

Don't get me wrong, I think the quoted techie sounds quite disagreeable. And yes, I'm sure there are many more techies who think like him. But I don't see this as a "techie" problem. I see it as a above-average-income mindset that is more impacted by the amount of money and privilege you have rather than what industry you acquired such things in.

Re: Techies Are the New Puritans

#42

Post by larrys »

mratzloff wrote: post #19
lbrandy wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment is good and worth reading, but your opening line is unfortunate especially in light of what happened in the 15 minutes following. Just remove that line. I won't tell anyone.

Thanks. The thread got a lot more up votes after my comment. ;-)

"larrys" law states that a comment that "larrys" replies to and all the parent comments get automatic up votes.

Re: Techies Are the New Puritans

#43

Post by tehwalrus »

borgopants wrote: post #24

As a software engineer, this problem has been prevalent in my mind lately. My main question is this: how can we, as members of the technology industry, use our skills to help solve the homelessness problem? I've seen a lot of people suggesting that learning to code is a solution, which feels like a very disconnected kind of response. If you're trying to stay warm and survive from day to day, buying a computer is sure…

You can start by following homeless people on social media, for example twitter's @HomelessDating[1], to better understand their side of the problem (I'm not calling you ignorant; we are all always learning...)

[1] hmm, since I last checked this account has become less active. https://twitter.com/homelessdating

Re: Techies Are the New Puritans

#44

Post by elwell »

Crito wrote: post #31
cynicalkane wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Add "verbal and sexual harassment of women in the street" to that list.

Yes, some of these incidents even get national coverage ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/11/naked-subway-man-vi... ). I can't speak to whether these sort of incidents get an exaggerated or unfair amount of coverage, or if these really are common problems. Of course either way, these sort of incidents/articles surely shape public perception; I don't think we can make this as simple as "Techies are nouveau riche…

they are common

Re: Techies Are the New Puritans

#45

Post by digitalzombie »

I'm sure they wouldn't feel the same way if the tech industry go to shit and they end up homeless.

Having a degree and/or a job in demand doesn't give them the right to look down upon the unfortunates. I believe there are a huge population of veteran homeless too. It's not like all them chose to be homeless.

They're just assholes that are sitting around bitching. They're not the ones that are going to try to solve the homeless problem they're the ones that try to hide the problem. They're worst, they have no solution to this problem and not willing to do anything.

I find it weird that they used religious allegory but their religious figures such as Jesus would have help those in need not whine about it.

Re: Techies Are the New Puritans

#46

Post by moocowduckquack »

Crito wrote: post #17

I suppose the elephant in the room is whether or not 'techies' are repulsed by the homeless because accusations like "...[they] spit, urinate, taunt you, sell drugs, get rowdy..." have a basis in reality. I don't live in SF, so I can only go off what I hear (from the accused 'techies', so I'm only getting one side of the propaganda here..), but what I have heard is that 1) the homeless really seem to love SF, preferr…

accusations like "...[they] spit, urinate, taunt you, sell drugs, get rowdy..." have a basis in reality.

Sounds like a stereotype of students as much as of the homeless.

Re: Techies Are the New Puritans

#47

Post by EliRivers »

67726e wrote: post #26

Is the relation really all that surprising to people? We programmers tend to be a fairly self-reliant bunch. Ever told someone "RTFM"? Many of us are self-motivated, and probably self-taught to at least a certain degree. You think "It's just so easy, anyone can do it if they put in the work" and as a result you see unsuccessful, downtrodden people and think they just didn't want to put in their 10.000 hours like the…

We programmers tend to be a fairly self-reliant bunch.

For a very special meaning of "self-reliant". The majority of programmers I know could not produce their own food, make their own clothes, build their own shelter, treat their own illnesses. These are the fundamentals of life; how "self-reliant" can someone claim to be without being able to do these (I can't do these either, but I'm not claiming self-reliance)?

We can play into an illusion of "self-reliance" only because these foundations and so much more have been made so pervasive and efficient.

Re: Techies Are the New Puritans

#48

Post by Crito »

mratzloff wrote: post #38
Crito wrote: post #17

I suppose the elephant in the room is whether or not 'techies' are repulsed by the homeless because accusations like "...[they] spit, urinate, taunt you, sell drugs, get rowdy..." have a basis in reality. I don't live in SF, so I can only go off what I hear (from the accused 'techies', so I'm only getting one side of the propaganda here..), but what I have heard is that 1) the homeless really seem to love SF, preferr…

I live in Seattle, not San Francisco. This is not my experience whatsoever in Seattle. Perhaps this is the experience in San Francisco, however. In that case, to what do you ascribe that behavior? And What is the appropriate response to it?

I also currently live in Seattle. My experience with the homeless in Seattle is characterized best as a lack of experience with the homeless in Seattle. They seem to rarely bother people, I have never been harassed by them.

If there really is a stark difference in behavior, I don't know what to ascribe that to.

Re: Techies Are the New Puritans

#50

Post by aaronem »

smtddr wrote: post #29
aaronem wrote: post #2

> In the Puritan model of charity, the rich have an obligation to do good for the poor—but the poor also have an obligation to the rich, to try to be a useful part of the same society. The article's author not only disagrees, but considers this model so obviously erroneous that she doesn't see any need to explain what's wrong with it. I find this unhelpful, because it fails to explain why subsidizing people who contr…

Isn't compassion for others and the desire to end others' suffering enough of a reason without any other incentive? If in a hypothetical conversation, someone said to me "They contribute nothing; they should all just die & starve or just get out of the way." ... my response would be that it's us, the people with wealth(or at least not living paycheck2paycheck) who have the most power to change society and allow it to…

I cannot end my brother's suffering. Only he can do that. The most I can do is offer help, if he'll have it. On that point: Regarding someone as worthless, that is, not only unable to contribute but unable to become able to contribute, strikes me as rather less compassionate than contemptuous. I concede I once thought as you do, but only until, through sheer good fortune, I learned what I could accomplish and, in so doing, earned my own respect -- and found in that the necessary prerequisite to earning the respect of others. Better, I think, to offer my brother the opportunity to do likewise, than simply to presume that he lacks even the hope of ever so doing.
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