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Subject:RE: SLAVE labor? Just a darn minute... From:"Damien Braniff" <DBraniff -at- amphion -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 28 Jun 2002 15:57:03 +0100
I was going to stay out of this thread but it's Friday afternoon, I'm
hot and tired so forgive me if I ramble .... :-)
What we all know (and continually spout on this list) is that writing is
all about audience. If you know who you're writing for you're going to
(or should if you're a half decent writer) communicate better, whatever
the media used. We've also seen (from one of the polls) that many of us
have little or no user contact, don't have the resources for usability
testing etc. What we tend to do (no real choice) is homogenise -
computer users are beginners, experts whatever.
This thread is all about homogenising and we all do it to a greater or
lesser degree. We are a product of our environment and everything we
see/do/etc affects our view of life and others. Here in N. Ireland a
recent study showed that children as young as 3/4 were already forming
(irrational) views about Catholics/Protestants simply based on what they
see around them and how adults behave. Our view of any group we have no
contact with often has no real bearing at all what that group is really
like and we can easily suffer from foot-in-mouth syndrome. As writers
who know about 'audience' we should be less prone than others but we're
still human - aren't we?
As to the discussion that capitalism is the powerhouse to bring
equality.... Capitalism, communism, assorted religions etc all work
perfectly well as a concept but in practice they all have problems. The
trouble is that human beings get involved and the various ideals end up
getting slightly bent (even doing U-turns occasionally). It's the nature
of the beast that we have to meddle. There are some societies that are
totally self-sufficient, they make what they need etc but they only work
when kept separate from the modern world. Once exposed to the 'benefits'
of the modern world you get the 'I want' syndrome.
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