Only a few years behind the times...

20/01/2003

Wow -- it's been half a month since I wrote in this. Not exactly a daily blog, now, is it? Maybe it's been so long because I've been too busy to write in it. Maybe I've had too much to worry about. Maybe my other projects have been stealing my time to the point where I've not even had the chance to update a single part of this site in two weeks.

Maybe the fact that it's not even online has led me to be remiss about updating it.

Why does that last possibility have a ring of authority to it?

I just flamed an acquaintance for a rather glib dismissal of UTS as being nothing but a breeding ground for snobs. It is very seldom that I flame people (I've sent out maybe three or four pseudo-flames in my life), so there has to be something to this message (it wasn't to me directly, but rather directed to the Strom, and Bryan in particular) that got me to react.

I'll be among the first to concede that UTS is, in fact, a breeding ground for snobs. Most people who graduate from that school, whether they loved it or saw it as being a waste of six years (or less), leave with egoes the size of the chips they wear on their shoulders. But after a few years, those egos tend to fade, and the lasting effect of UTS can be seen. (I only know this because I've dealt with a lot of people who've been out of the school for decades, and they seem much better adjusted. I can only hope that this is because the snobbery wears off, and leaves a polished finish, rather than the difference being due to a dramatically different UTS existing nowadays...)

But UTS has also done a lot of good. I've defended it to hostile people, to curious people, to people who have never heard anything about it except that it was for a privileged few. The difference with all of those people is that they've been willing, at least, to admit their ignorance, and have withheld judgment pending the facts. This person seemed to have no intention of doing so. I grant that my opinion of her personality may be somewhat biased. She is a very vociferous member of the Strom (for those who don't know about the Strom, suffice it to say that it is a group of engineering students and their friends, who email each other about anything and nothing at all), and her arguments tend to be build on flimsy anecdotes without any kind of reasoning to back them up. The implied assumption always seems to be "it was true for such-and-such a cousin of mine, therefore it MUST be true for everyone!"

Nevertheless, rightly or wrongly, this particular instance got to me. It was a completely unprovoked attack (probably meant as an ad hominem towards Bryan), and a rather dirty one. And — as I mentioned to Martha — UTS is a precious part of who I am. Whereas what she wrote was certainly not in the same league as an unprovoked, uninformed direct personal insult of a family member or close friend, there is the same kind of feeling. I guess that's why I felt provoked to the point of shooting back.

Mind you, given how apologetic many of my "flames" have ended up sounding, I doubt that too much will come of this...