ediron2's Journal: Power and Character

CleverNickName just did something ethical, and someone expressed mock shock to learn celebrities with ethics still existed.

Ages ago, heard an interview with Tom Clancey. When Hunt For Red October became famous, he privately mentioned to a well-connected friend that he was worried that the fame would get to him and he'd become a jerk.

Friend said, based on a lifetime of watching a *lot* of DC's powerful both before and after they became powerful, that power didn't destroy character. It *revealed* character. People that became jerks simply lacked grace or class and had been hiding that flaw under a veneer until they felt they no longer needed to.

That said, watch yourself carefully for a few days. Almost everyone I know has great and horrible moments. Last weekend, getting gas at some c-store at 5am, I watched a customer turn into a pit-viper, verbally slashing the clerk that had screwed stuff up a bit. I watched the whole thing, and from a to z, it made sense:

• Customer was cranky for being up early, or late, or whatever.
• Clerk was giving the job the minimum of his $6/hr or whatever worth of attention. He was either asleep, a dolt, or didn't care at all.
• Customer used it as an excuse to overreact.

So, sometimes outside factors kick in.

Fame lets you get away with a lot (you would not believe how silly celebrities can get w/r/t ordering off the menu or making other absurd requests). It also puts you under a vicious microscope: eventually, the misdeeds get published.

it's like this guy who foed me

[stoolpigeon]

and I don't even know what I did.

I kid.... it's just a web site, you do whatever you need to do.

Wil seems to be a genuine person-- who quite frankly was aided greatly in being a good person by experiencing a lot of failure. (I own and have read Dancing Barefoot and Just a Geek)

I appreciate your JE -- experienced it myself this last week-end. Went off on somebody Saturday, had to go apologize on Sunday. Wasn't fun but at least I could relax once I cleared things up.

Re:it's like this guy who foed me

[ediron2]

One of the deeper ironies in my book is slashdot's utterly craptabulous data retention and search capabilities. If nothing else, better search would make a near-decade of slashdottery useful for tech questions, research, etc. Instead of becoming a content repository thru comments and seeing users regularly back-link or RTF, we rehash stuff over and over and over...

As for slashdot's data retention, when I friend/foe someone, I'd love to have a breadcrumb trail tied to it. Previous page viewed, a URL or c

Re:it's like this guy who foed me

[stoolpigeon]

thanks for the reply.

that was an interesting thread because I certainly didn't know what I was getting into.

I wasn't thinking of it as a divisive issue so much as an academic one. I've spent a good chunk of my life studying theology and I strive for clarity in language. I'm the same way when it comes to computers and other areas in which I have some knowledge.

The discussion on mormonism being viewed as Christian was worthwhile for me in the long run as people brought up points I had not considered a