long time listener, first time caller (Score 1)

I've been reading /. for, admittedly, not as long as most of you. For the most part, I just come here for the information so that I can have actual conversations with my friends. You see, I am not really a geek per se, though I am eager to learn. The only difficulty in this lies in the attitudes of my teachers. While they are my friends, I must admit that they can be intimidating. They will often get frustrated when I fail to understand what is, to them, basic terminology. The thing is, once I am taught the basic terminology, the founding ideas etc., I will be able to participate more intelligently in the conversation.

It isn't that they intentionally wish to keep me in the dark. They just want to be able to talk without having to explain every step in their thought processes. This is quite understandable, but it means that there is a linguistic barrier when we speak, making complete comprehension on my part almost impossible.

I'm attempting to catch up on the years of training, hacking, and general information they have on me, but it is quite the learning curve I'm working with here. Presently, I tend to just observe during techno-geek conversations, absorbing information and trying to think of semi-intelligent questions to ask.

I think that it is partly frustration with ignorance that leads to hostility. I know that I was getting rather hostile when hearing people go on and on about how the world was going to end due to Y2k. It was just the knee-jerk "stupid people must either be culled or taken from my presence" reaction, but it was still rather strong. The same thing happens in any discipline, however. A friend of mine is a bio-geek and she gets quite angry and bitter when she sees postings on this otherwise-intelligent site saying things which are not only untrue, but also illogical and almost impossible and delivered with the confidence and surity of a medical professional.

Basically, what it all comes down to is a "why can't we all just get along" argument. The reason why we can't is that human beings are just generally intolerant of ignorance and stupidity, no matter the excuse. It frustrates us to see people being obtuse. It annoys us to watch as those around us blindly walk off a cliff. As well, there is the fact that we don't like it when people disagree with us. We all want to be right. True, hostility won't prove your point, but it might force the arguing party to form a cohesive argument. This, in turn, makes you rethink your position in relation to theirs and form counter-arguments. In this way, the hostility of the internet is a valuable tool. It allows thoughts to be developed at a faster pace, and it requires that each person be responsible for what they believe, instead of being able to just make blanket statements and wait for others to bask in their genius. It challenges us to think.