On 14/04/2011 10:13, Patrick Elliott wrote:
> On 4/14/2011 1:40 AM, Invisible wrote:
>> When I read stuff like this, I find myself wondering: Are all American
>> people actually stupid? Or is it merely a very vocal minority?
>>
> A very vocal and "powerful" minority

I see.

> Romans used to handle the situations: Make
> sure your supporters are too ignorant to realize what is going on, then
> distract them, as much as possible, with non-existent threats, and
> pointless entertainments.
>
> There is hardly any point in being smart, if you are ignorant, your
> history is handed to you by the very people that want to keep you that
> way, and they know your fears, since they created many of them

Sounds like America is the least-free country in the free world. o_O

> These are not stupid people. They have simply been lied to, so often and
> so persistently, and pushed so often in just the right ways, to convince
> them, that they can't see past their fear of what someone else *says* is
> going on.

I see. I think...

>> (I don't know about crazy, but all the American people that I've
>> personally met have been notably stupid. Given the tiny sample size,
>> that's not terribly significant, however...)
>
> Again. Don't confuse stupidity for ignorance and fear.

Consider the following conversation:

"So what do all these scripts do then?"
"This script reads some data from the database and builds this script 
from it. It then runs this script, which does the real work of backing 
up the database."
"OK. So... this script creates that one?"
"Yes."
"Right. So you mean, like, if I were to just completely delete this 
script, that script would recreate it next time you run it?"
"Yes."
"Hmm, OK. So why do you need that script then if this one gets created 
automatically?"
"Because that script is the one that creates it."
"Right, I see. So I could literally delete this right now and that 
script would recreate it?"
"Yes."
"OK, got it. So why don't you just rerun this script each time? Why do 
you have to recreate it?"
"Because the structure of the database could change, but mainly because 
it copies the files into a folder with today's date on it."
"Right, cool. So, do you really need to have two scripts?"
[Repeat this exact conversation 6 or 7 times before the guy finally 
gives up trying to understand and asks me about something else.]

Now if this was some random dude on the street, that would be fine. But 
it wasn't. It was the Senier Director of IT for the entire corporation. 
In other words, the guy in charge of all our IT.

The fact that the Director of IT himself considers it necessary to 
personally understand how a minor piece of scripting works is either

- taking an interest in employee talents
- a reflection of the small size of our IT department
- micromanagement / empire-building

depending on your point of view. But the complete inability of the man 
to comprehend a VERY SIMPLE CONCEPT even after having me explain it six 
different ways cannot be regarded as a good thing from any perspective.

The other Americans I've worked with have all been similarly dense. 
Perhaps this is a reflection not of America, but of upper management. :-P

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