mpathize with him, and point out your differences about
activism.

Telling him to "stick to coding" makes you an insensitive clod, and sends a
dangerous message to others with suicidal thoughts that their feelings are not
welcome.

~~~
supervacuo
> So respectfully empathize with him, and point out your differences about
> activism.

There's no moral problem with being slightly irreverent to someone in such a
strong position: Atwood is apparently financially successful and has a large
readership. He is also — unlike the target of his own criticism — alive.

So maybe your concern is strategic. I happen to think "respectful empathy"
would have been a worse way of making my point.

Finally, I think my article is pretty clear. The category of person I want to
"stick to coding" is "Jeff Atwood", or, more specifically, "Jeff Atwood
talking about something he knows nothing about in a socially-damaging way". I
don't think anyone would come away with the impression that I don't want to
hear from people who've thought about suicide (hence why I didn't mention that
aspect of Atwood's post at all).

~~~
VikingCoder
> being slightly irreverent to someone in such a strong position

You're also telling everyone who happens to agree with Atwood to shut up. And
they don't all have the same strong position.

You're not WRITING AN EMAIL TO ATWOOD, you're broadcasting to the world that
everyone who agrees with him is wrong. And you're doing it disrespectfully.

> (hence why I didn't mention that aspect of Atwood's post at all).

Don't you think, given the topic, that you should have specifically mentioned
that category of people, and shown empathy? Perhaps starting with Atwood, and
generalizing from there?

Fuck it - you don't care what I think, and you're casual about telling people
to shut up, so my efforts are completely pointless.

------
lgcooper
In a way, I agree with Jeff, and I wonder what would happened if some other
famous activists have taken the path Aaron took.




Thinking of Travelling to Europe This Summer? - praw