Get Offended

[Andrew Plato <intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

You know, one of the most irritating aspects of being a writer is having to
deal with people who cannot handle truth or reality. You know the type -
EVERYTHING offends them.  They think they have the correct moral code and all
of us should adhere to it. Their truth is THE truth.  

Now - I admit that I am venting here and teetering on the edge of a non-tech
comm related issue. I am just really tired of people feel a need to censor
things because they cannot use a delete key or stop reading text they find
offensive. Just because *YOU* don't like something does not mean the rest of
the world doesn't want to see/hear/experience it. Last time I checked this was
supposed to be a free country.  

There is a tech-comm issue to this.  Its called marketing. In our recent
discussions regarding Space Shuttle O-rings etc. I am now convinced that the
reason most serious catastrophes happen is because some wimpy little creep gets
"offended" and mandates the truth be hidden inside a bunch of marketing
gibberish. I am sure the reason nobody paid attention to those O-rings was
because some do-gooder freak didn't want to offend anybody in the O-Ring
community. Sheesh. 

Just recently the marketing group of one of our clients mandated we remove this
one section of the manual because it wasn't "appropriate."  I argued that it
was technically correct and necessary for users to know.  This section
explained a fundamental deficiency in how network monitoring systems work.  I
also explained that it was necessary to explain this issue so users could know
WHY the software could not see things on other network segments. Removing it
would mislead users into thinking the software could do something it could not.


However, marketing was worried about "offending" people so we had to remove it.
Surprise surprise, the support calls piled up. I'd like to wrap my hands around
that latte sipping, Range Rover driving, lite beer drinking little marketing
dweebazoid and pop him like a big zit. 

I wish a huge banner would be put up in space in all languages that read:

"Your opinions are not necessarily the opinions of everybody else." 

Oh I know what you're thinking. "In some venues certain behaviors/images/words
are in appropriate." Truth is never inappropriate. Truth saves lives, educates
the dumb, and keeps the incompetent out of harms way. If we took a little more
time looking for truth and a little less time worry about how offended we were
we might actually communicate something useful. 

Grrrrrr

Tyler Durton (aka Andrew Plato)
Provisional Leader
Project Mayhem

Pathetic Advertisement: Get offended, fast: http://members.home.com/aplato
WARNING: This site will warp your fragile little mind. 

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