I'm having trouble posting to a thread right now, so I'm just going to do it here since I found this topic interesting.

I saw a in a post about the Sasser virus someone state that what we need is an educated user base, and then all of these easily exchanged viruses would disappear. In a perfect world this would be true. An educated user base is ideal.

But I can't seem to get past the analogy to other technology that "average" people use everyday. Take the car for example. You're average driver has NO idea about the innerworkings of the vehicle. Not where to check the oil, transmission fluid, how to change spark plugs, etc. And these are the EASY things about car maintenance. They just want it to work when they need it.

It doesn't only apply to the actual innerworkings of a car either. Take defensive/skilled driving, the average driver wouldn't know how to effectively manage a skid, hyro-plane, etc. They just want to use it for their needs, they don't expect bad things to happen to them.

Both of these analogies translate directly to computer users. There are a number of people who undertand the inside of their computer at an expert level, but they are in the minority. There also a number of people who understand what to do when something goes wrong with their computer, but they are also in the minority.

We will never have a user base that is as educated as you would like, its just human nature. The "average" user of any technology just wants it to work. They don't want to think about everything that goes on behind the scenes. The average user also thinks that "bad" things will not happen to them, and if on a lark they do happen, then they will just get it fixed.

While I'm from the school of thought that anyone that uses anything important in their daily life should understand it sufficiently enough to repair it/use it safely, most "average" people are not.

Take a look at the days of the Old West, where it was a crime punishable by death to steal someone's horse. Why? Because it was that person's livelihood. The person that owned the horse also knew how to take care of it. To shoe it, feed it, brush it, saddle it, etc. We've just taken our technological leaps for granted now. While our car can be our livelihood, SOMEONE's gonna know how to fix it. And if our computer goes down, the tech guy's supposed to fix it right?

I saw one of those 'MTV News' stories two days ago about how young conservatives are organizing around the country and crashing anti-war protests. The subject matter alone was pretty shocking to me. I'm sure some MTV exec figured it would be good for their channel to appear 'fair and balanced' by representing the right to some extent.

Now what really bothers me is that the college students who were being interviewed for the piece were just as naively biased as the Republican house wives who are currently married to the corporate big wigs who are stealing our country right out from underneath us. This idealism they use to justify everything from stealing workers' retirements to sending troops to die to win another campaign is absolutely ridiculous.

Now, I'm a moderate liberal. I believe that we need a strong government to support our society. I also believe in free enterprise and a strong military. But, being the raging realist that I am, I also believe that we will never have a society devoid of corruption and malfeasance. Which means that we will ALWAYS need checks and balances that work. Government administrations will always need to be watched, and corporations will always need to be reigned in. There is no other way it can be. The human condition forbids it.

So being a moderate liberal has been very frustrating. The far left and the far right are fcuking morons. They have to argue the most extreme versions of their beliefs in order to be heard. One end is a bunch of idealistic hippies that believe everyone is inherently good and we should work towards socialism, the other end is a group of religious fundamentalists who are being led by puppet strings attached to their morals toward corporate slavery and fascism. Neither outcome is very appealing to me.
 

My first entry into my journal and it has to deal with *SURPRISE* getting a tech job. Not that I'm bitter or anything. I already have a tech job. Its just that its only 23 hours a week in the public school system, and they NEVER expand positions into full-time once they've reduced the hours.

Oh to be a new grad in 1999. I'd probably be making $60K, rollin' in my Benz and pimpin the hoes. And then it would come to an abrupt halt a year later and I'd be on my ass unable to make my student loan payments.

So I guess my question is this: Is it better to have pimped and lost everything, or never to have pimped at all? I'm fairly certain its better to never have pimped than to have lost it all. I mean really, I don't think I could sit here and help teachers everyday with their web browser, email virus and MS Word problems if I used to drive a luxury car and bang a 20 yr. old college cheer leader.