Hear, hear.

[zotz]

imomus writes today on Why I Am Not A Satanist.

I do recommend his LJ to you all, incidentally, and not because I agree with all of it. Where I disagree, though, he does a good job of explaining his position, leaving me with a better understanding of the subject. And, of course, it's enlightening on things I don't know about at all. His records are pretty good, too, if you have the time.

Comments

[kitty-goth.livejournal.com]

I occasionally stop off on Momus's LJ, just to remind myself why I hate the guy so much.

I find it like reading a music-business version of Joel Spolsky: self-important, blinkered, turgid, dull.

[zotz]

I don't find him dull, although I can see there are elements of the rest. I think if I already knew much about his points of view, I'd be less interested.

[kitty-goth.livejournal.com]

Dull is perhaps the wrong word.

I think what I mean is that his writing sounds like listening to a stereo recording played in mono. The sound's flat, and you just know there's something important missing.

[rasilon-x.livejournal.com]

I get the impression that he's flailing about somewhat. Jumping from a version of satanism, to paganism, to shinto requires a few logical leaps and a few convenient re-definitions.

It's one of those arguments you pick up, examine in the hopes of figuring out what angle you are supposed to be looking at it from. But eventually conclude that in the box marked "argument", there is in fact a small purple knitted rabbit. And the author really likes daisies.

[zotz]

I didn't really think so. He was, after all, using those as counterexamples rather than lumping them together.

[naturalbornkaos.livejournal.com]

Well, certainly based on his "Satanism" rant, I'd probably look elsewhere if I were seeking to learn about new subjects. He seems very biased and a bit misleading as a result. I would probably take everything he says with a pinch of salt. Although I do agree with him about Disinfo...

[stanleylieber.livejournal.com]

'I think if I already knew much about his points of view, I'd be less interested.'

If you stick around long enough, you will see this cycle play itself out amongst many new readers. The worst is bearing the string of people 'agreeing' with him when they seem to have missed that he was just marking out large portions of their interests as assinine. :)

Didn't mean to be quite so snippy with you over there.

[zotz]

No Problem.

I've been reading it since last year sometime. I just don't often comment.

[hirez.livejournal.com]

Hm. Spolsky has the annoying habit of being entirely correct most of the time. (And I say that with my BSD-licensed hat on)

[kitty-goth.livejournal.com]

Really?

I think he's correct rather less than the average for a suppposedly talented technologist. His Unix/Windows rants are particularly weird in particular.

He had some good things to say about tech interviews though, and I've appropriated a few of his interview questions.

[hirez.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed.

Like I said, it's annoying since I'm not a great fan of Winders, and it's always nice to have one's prejudices confirmed. However, when they're confirmed by slashdot, that's a sign to get a new set of prejudices...

For instance, he's entirely right about office environments, coder productivity and the measurement of same, code refactoring (rather than pitching out and starting afresh), toolkits and sensible support choices. (ie - if you know Windows, use Windows)

[hirez.livejournal.com]

Interesting.

The gubbins about the taxonomy of industrial buildings was right up my alley, as you would no doubt imagine.

[ex-lark-asc.livejournal.com]

He's a bit drug-addled, but he has one or two fantastic lines: "Occultist websites are appalling cautionary tales, evidence that, whatever else he does, Satan makes you commit every graphic design sin known to man."

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

Though, ah, he should perhaps paint the walls of his glass house before casting stones on that one. That background is hideous.

[zotz]

You should tell him that. I'm sure it'd be appreciated.

[ex-lark-asc.livejournal.com]

Goth!

[serpentstar.livejournal.com]

I don't find most Satanists any more annoying than I find most neo-Pagans, and probably less than I find most New Agers, personally.

[zotz]

Well, I've had arguments with people from those camps too, of course. The Crowley/LaVey crowd are pretty harmless in my experience, and often interesting as people.

[serpentstar.livejournal.com]

Yeah, wasn't yerman hinting that he preferred the more nature-oriented stuff though?

*I* like to think I'm interesting as people too, BTW. :)

[zotz]

Well, of course you are. But I didn't feel the need to mention it as i hadn't just been slaggng you off.

He was saying he finds them more positive and agreeable rather than that he believes any of it, I think. He's very into aesthetics. Often to the exclusion of all else, I sometimes suspect.

[serpentstar.livejournal.com]

Yeah, even then... whether one prefers a Satanic aesthetic to a Wiccan one is surely more down to whether one's a goth or a hippy than to whether one is objectively better than the other, no?

I get on better with the cynics than the positive, agreeable, deluded types, personally. But I might just be bitter.

[zotz]

I don't think he makes any claims to objectivity. It's about his taste and why he personally isn't one.

[lilitufire.livejournal.com]

It reminds me that I should write an entry about Shinto sometime :)

[zotz]

And thank you for doing so.