Recent stereotypical boom?
Since I see the 'General' label, it may pertain JUST to general computational posts, but I'll go out on a limb about something I'm noticing recently.
I'm not the kind to judge, but being judged myself, I know what it's like. If you're a skater (like me) then you know that if you carry a skateboard practically anywhere then sooner or later, someone's going to pick on you for what you believe in.
I've noticed that this problem has gotten a lot worse lately, on account of the fact that maybe people just aren't as NICE as they once were. Sure, in circles like HBH, people are nice to each other, because they are (mostly) striving to achieve the same goal. What bothers me is the fact that some OTHER circles are heavily reliant upon narrowminded insults and negative stereotyping of others.
Sure, maybe a few Arabic people caused the devastation on 9/11, but are ALL people of middle Eastern decent BAD? Sure, a few skateboarders have spit in people's faces with a resounding "Fuck off." but does that automatically make EVERY SINGLE person who follows that sport an idiot? No.
Hackers get the same treatment. Just because the general public has seen 'Wargames' and a few people have seen CNN reports, we all get the shitty end of the stick. My Uncle, for one, invited me to his house for supper. I decided to check my E-mail on his PC, but was shunned. "I'm not letting a hacker like you on my computer." Yes, Pat, I'm a Hacker. I sit there ALL day and DDoS Microsoft. insert eye roll here. Maybe you mean, CRACKER? Y'know, the ones with the intent to destroy and manipulate for the sake of destruction, as opposed to well-natured Hackers with nothing more on their mind than the pursuit of knowledge.
This may have seemed a little jaded, but I just decided to "Get my thoughts out on paper" or in this case, a Forum. And if you'd like to flame me, by all means, go ahead, 'cause it's just an opinion.
fully agree. good to see you took the time to write that down in that way.
i suffer the same problem repeatedly. I've had 3 warnings of expulsion at my college so far, because i "looked" at HBH during my computer lesson. (because im so far ahead of everyone else in coursework i get bored and go on hbh)
and the reason everyone is so angry, is because the media only reports the negative news on the subject. but that goes for most things, after all the media saying goes, "bad news is good news".
People only believe and know what they see and hear, its rare for someone to research a subject before they form their own opinoins, people are stupid and easy to manipulate, so you can understand why all the negative stereotyping.
I know PLENTY of people who are exactly like your uncle, its a shame really. i should just record my argument on tape so i can just play it instead of repeating myself the whole dam time in conversation.
Nice rant, I like.
I'm quite lucky, I have very laid back parents, and I have never had trouble at work with visiting sites like this. Most of the circles I travel in are also open minded people willing to listen to someone elses point of view.
Funny story for you. A couple of months back (when that guy from the UK got caught hacking USA government systems. The USA wanted to trial him in the USA. I'm still not quite sure what happend with that), I went up with my dad and boyfriend to see my grandma. We got talking (my boyfriend is also interested in hacking) and we got onto the topic of that hacker, and my grandma came out with 'I don't know why they don't just get a job.' And my dad instantly came out with 'But they do. Most of them end up having security admin jobs for computer companies.' To say the least I was impressed.
Sorry if I went on, and if I bored anyone. Just wanted to share.
I fully agree, like…
I was in the library in our school and our school network was down so I got bored and made some php logins and stuff, then my dumb clueless librarian comes over and accuses me of "coding a virus" so I explained what I was doing and I got banned from the library, she threatened me with "If you try coming back in here, you will be suspended!". Some people never will understand.