Recently, I have been seeing a lot of people complaining about commenters on various new aggregators. They are not happy with the ignorance and prejudice of the comments. Some have chosen to think that this means that our entirer community is poisoned, and others believe it shows that the youth will be the end of educated society.

##Root of the Cause

I am not sure what they true cause of any of this is, but I believe that it has to do with the abundance of anonymity on the internet. There are countless people who have hidden biases and expose them on the Internet, and there are others who believe that treating others well doesn’t matter, so as a rule they don’t. I think that it is pointless to worry if there are productive and intelligent discussions happening on any of these sites. The more productive discussion will happen between people who hold each other accountable, and those are the discussions that we should be listening to. If you say inflammatory things, it doesn’t matter in the long run. If you want to influence things, you should be representing your beliefs with your whole person.

##What about the Community?

The community that we are living and working in will always have people that we don’t agree with. The best we can do is genuinely try to understand them, and in failing, try to educate them. The community will always be healthy with people who care about the quality of discussion. When we lose focus and focus our strength on being disappointed, we become just as bad as they are. If there is even a “they” that we aren’t.

Before this next section, please understand that I only want people to consider what I say. It is not me saying that what I say is gospel.

##<rant name=”youth”>

We can’t blame the issues of our community on the youth. When we are younger it is important that we make mistakes. If we didn’t, then we would be doomed to make them when there is more risk to ourselves and our families. Getting angry that younger people don’t know something that you do and blaming their age is failing to address the actual issue. They honestly don’t know. Don’t claim that they will doom the world, but help them to understand it. Thinking that the youth can do any worse than is already done is saying a lot.

And if you want to do more to help them, I would suggest influencing the community to move away from the “alcohol worship” that I have encountered. As one of the younger people in the community, it is the thing that makes me the most uncomfortable, and if you really want to find a way to help fix the education system, become a more welcoming environment. I am not in any way saying that alcohol is bad, I wouldn’t know. What I am saying is that if you are genuinely interested in making development more accessible to the youth (before they decide they need college to learn how to program), then you need to make an environment that is safer and more comfortable for them. If that means you don’t choose alcohol as a form of rebellion, or as a replacement for doing something else, then you are free to make that choice.

Please realize that I am an 18 year old, if what I say makes your angry, IGNORE ME

</rant>

##Have something to tell me?

Did something I say offend you? Did I say something that you don’t believe? Please email me at isaac@isaacbfsanders.com.

If would like to have a productive discussion about this with me, please email me at isaac@isaacbfsanders.com.

Have a great weekend.