591–600 of 623 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it really though?
You could make the argument. Japan was actively xenophobic and exclusionary to practically all but the Dutch. And after that their biggest influence was U.S. occupation during the 50s. Lots of “western” influence there. (Obviously in actual critical work, the word western isn’t useful at all as it doesn’t have much meaning)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a bit longer than I intended, but is my point of view, and not intended to dismiss what you’re saying at all. I think it’s easy to dismiss conversations like master/slave whitelist/blacklist as overly PC or childish. I certainly don’t appreciate the overly-preachy feeling I sometimes get from people pushing their point of view. And my nature is to find pleasure in giving The Man the proverbial finger. The sel…
My initial thoughts on the matter were similar to yours. Why not perform a simple search and replace on the source code for a contentious word? Or click a few buttons to change the default branch? The problem is in the unintended consequences. Once we started accommodating requests to change potentially-problematic words at my last company, those words went from "possibly problematic to someone" to "officially confir…
This is a really interesting example. Naively, I'd expect the meaning of a word to matter.
Do you know if the person advocating for this understood the etymology?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
For many of us SWEs on here, it's literally our job ...
let's get this straight -- You're doing the thing you love most in all the world, surrounded by people who feel the same way. You've gotten every perk known to man from ping pong to free booze. You're getting paid handsomely, more than any other humans on the planet. You've created a buffer zone between yourself and the client that could withstand a rocket blast from a scud missile And you are allowed to wear whateve…
> You're doing the thing you love most in all the world, surrounded by people who feel the same way.
The thing I love most is understanding ideas and solving cool problems. Would have stayed in academia if the jobs,job security and money were there. There is plenty of problem solving but it's not an everyday occurrence.
> You've gotten every perk known to man from ping pong to free booze.
Might get some free booze at company events. We have ping pong at our yearly BBQ.
> You're getting paid handsomely, more than any other humans on the planet.
Definitely not true.
> You've created a buffer zone between yourself and the client that could withstand a rocket blast from a scud missile
I'm emailing or on the phone with clients on a weekly basis.
> And you are allowed to wear whatever adolescent threads you choose up to and including socks, sandals cargo shorts and a spiderman T shirt ..
This one's true.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Native Americans and pre-Christian pagan Europeans had a lot in common. Both cultures that honor seasonal cycles, animals, nature, ancestors, animism etc. Unfortunately “western” is now seen as the Abrahamic judeo-Christian capitalistic worldview, even though the west sprang out of pagan Greece and Rome.
Rome was Christian when the Western and Eastern empires were founded, and when they fell. My understanding is that modern West/East etymology is heavily influenced by the Western/Eastern Roman empires.
i'm relieved its actually about a real issue
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I remember once it felt a bit jarring when I heard native American cultures contrasted with "western" ones. Surely they are more "western" than Europeans.
Native Americans and pre-Christian pagan Europeans had a lot in common. Both cultures that honor seasonal cycles, animals, nature, ancestors, animism etc. Unfortunately “western” is now seen as the Abrahamic judeo-Christian capitalistic worldview, even though the west sprang out of pagan Greece and Rome.
Other than not having the Christian religion, no, not really.
>Both cultures that honor seasonal cycles, animals, nature, ancestors, animism etc
"Both cultures" ? What cultures ? Neither pre-Colombian Americas nor Europe shared a culture on their respective side. Even if most of Europe shared a common Indo-European root, religious practices were varying widely. Be it from the cross-pollination with different tradition (pre-Indo-European, Semitic and whatnot) or social changes. It's very hard to argue the official Roman religion as practiced in cities was any more "closer to nature" than Catholicism is.
>the Abrahamic judeo-Christian capitalistic worldview
Any more grand words to force into that sentence ?
Making the Christian religion itself being the deciding factor in your reading of history is a position that's very... Christian.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>though I do hope they're only a minority of Japanese people whose voices are amplified by Twitter echo chambers. Why? There's a reason Dugout Doug was fired during the Korean War. Guy was a menace.
Because the kinds of people who likes to pile on McArthur are mostly far-right people who are trying to discredit the positive things he did, especially his team's work on drafting the current Japanese constitution which established a democratic system with strong safeguards for human rights. It's not McArthur's own character that I'm taking issues with.
MacArthur was an entirely overrated historical figure who had retired before WWII even broke out. His troops didn't like him, he was just really good at snowing the people above him. He had a minor version of Steve Jobs' reality distortion field.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. Japan is generally considered part of the "Eastern World." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_world
Culturally yes, but it depends on context. As mentioned in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_world , during the Cold War and after, "Western World" was roughly analogous with "First world". That is to say, (again, roughly) - "modern, stable, (primarily) capitalist, democracies aligned with Western Europe/USA". So, in the context of geopolitics and political ideologies many people still consider it to include Japa…
If you want to define "the West" as "First World countries" you'd be wrong. There is an intersection between these two sets that does not encompass everything.
Unless you're trying to say that only Western cultures can be modern stable democracies, but of course you wouldn't say something obviously wrong like that.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tangential: what is up with this inflationary expectation that everything should be "fun" and "exciting" and "thrilling"? I feel like western society as a whole is thinking more and more in terms of a six year old. For adults, there lies incredible satisfaction in mastering any but the most exploitative professions or jobs and fulfilling them dutifully, even if they are be no means "fun".
I hold a diametrically opposite viewpoint and would like to present it. I think people would be happier if they did think in terms of a six year old. There is nothing inherently "professional" about using drab and dull interfaces for coding and going to an office where you all dress in identical suits. There is quiet satisfaction in achieving mastery like you mention, but (IMO) it should be accompanied by a pleasant…
The two sides should come to a compromise, but as sites like Git are run by the second crowd, they don't feel any need to change things to please the deplorables.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
let's get this straight -- You're doing the thing you love most in all the world, surrounded by people who feel the same way. You've gotten every perk known to man from ping pong to free booze. You're getting paid handsomely, more than any other humans on the planet. You've created a buffer zone between yourself and the client that could withstand a rocket blast from a scud missile And you are allowed to wear whateve…
I think your list applies to a select few software engineers in Silicon Valley. > You're doing the thing you love most in all the world, surrounded by people who feel the same way. The thing I love most is understanding ideas and solving cool problems. Would have stayed in academia if the jobs,job security and money were there. There is plenty of problem solving but it's not an everyday occurrence. > You've gotten ev…