TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
And In The U.S., They're Forced To Buy Retail (fwd)
Subject:And In The U.S., They're Forced To Buy Retail (fwd) From:Karen Kay <karenk -at- NETCOM -dot- COM> Date:Sun, 11 Jun 1995 13:08:56 -0700
A friend of mine sent this to me. I thought it touched on a lot of the
things we've been discussing before. I apologize if you've all already
seen this before.
Karen
karenk -at- netcom -dot- com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Forwarded-by: bostic -at- CS -dot- Berkeley -dot- EDU (Keith Bostic)
> Forwarded-by: cate3 -at- netcom -dot- com
> From: Mateo -dot- Burtch -at- eng -dot- sun -dot- com (M. Burtch--Specialist in Courier Font)
> The Society for Technical Communication (STC) released its annual Report
> on the Status of Technical Writers today. This report, issued by the
> STC's Writers' Committee on Technical Scribes, monitors the civil and
> human rights of technical writers throughout the world and documents
> abuses against them. It also includes a handy quick-reference guide to
> basic Fortran compiler options.
> Overall, the report noted that the situation for technical writers the
> world over is "precarious, and, in many cases, is worsening rapidly. In
> particular, writers in the Third World routinely live in poverty and
> squalor." (The report noted that this may apply to other people in the
> Third World as well.)
> The report concludes:
> To the twin I-beams of Democracy and Freedom one may add those of
> Technical Accuracy and Good Visual Layout. But these too are
> threatened by mankind's age-old nemeses: Bigotry... Hatred ...
> Right Justification. If the human race is not only to survive,
> but to prosper in the heart and in the mind and in the soul,
> technical writers must practice their ageless craft unencumbered
> by fear, privation, or schedules.
> Some of the highlights of the Committee's report include:
> o Worldwide deaths involving courier font have increased 9% over the
> past two years.
> o Canada recently passed legislation making the passive voice the
> national language.
> o In China's remote Dimsum province, oxen are used in place of
> technical writers, with no apparent loss of readability.
> o In North Korea, police departments no longer use electric cattle
> prods to torture dissidents, replacing them instead with extremely
> slow and finicky daisy wheel printers.
> o The Frame Technology Corporation now touts its product as
> "disposable."
> o Torture of technical writers by roving gangs of hooligans known as
> "editors" is rampant in Northern Ireland, where sectarian violence
> between different spellers of "filesystem" runs out of control.
> One particularly gruesome form of punishment is "chopping":
> holding a writer down and then cutting the dangly thing off his
> cedilla.
> o A similar practice is "stet-ing," the continual removal and
> replacement of chunks of text, leaving the writer dazed and
> confused. (Or more dazed and confused, to be exact.)
> o A worldwide shortage of #2 pencils has left many technical
> writers in poorer countries unable to take notes or doodle
> during meetings -- forcing them to pay attention or end the
> meeting by flinging live poisonous insects at the other attendees.
> o The Baath Socialist party of Syria has introduced the use of
> cuneiform stone tablets, which jam PostScript printers.
> What can you do? Lots. Send a letter to the head of government of one
> of the cited countries; include a diagram with mixed fonts and at least
> one incorrect cross-reference. Show them you mean business. Or write to
> the UN High Commissioner on the Status of Technical Writers, stating that
> you are categorically opposed to the use of mustard gas during staff
> meetings and that you're still having problems figuring out which way the
> darn CD is supposed to go in. Or you can have a fundraising party,
> inviting all your technical writer friends and promising them that if they
> give a donation to Save the Tech Writers you'll cancel the performance
> art you had scheduled for the evening.
> A copy of the report is available from the Copy Center and from your local
> samadzat.
> --Mateo Burtch
> (c) 1992 Mateo Burtch
> Yes, you can forward this; just keep my name attached to it or I'll publicly
> link you with Ron Reagan.
