The Bad Boys of Computer Science
A sporadically updated web comic from your friends at HotZP.
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What does today's comic have to do with the IRC conversation I posted yesterday, you ask? Well, it's a retort to something I had said myself that I'm not quite so sure I agree with at this moment; specifically, the part where I mentioned that the talk we had was probably something my non-Asian friends just would never understand, having never gone through the same circumstances growing up. Now my opinion on this issue has wavered quite a bit and changed through the years, so take anything I say about race relations with a grain of salt.
When I was younger and perhaps a little more idealistic, I always thought that if they put in enough effort, people could get along perfectly well and understand each other completely. Now that I'm a bit more jaded and cynical, I think I tend to believe that some, if not most, people won't even bother to try to understand someone who's a breed apart because they feel the most comfortable with their own kind, i.e. people of the same racial ethnicity and socioeconomic background; however, saying that my non-Asian friends just wouldn't understand totally undercuts their capacity for emotional empathy and underestimates their intellect. And for that, I must apologize (hence today's comic). So does that mean I've given up on humanity as a whole? Well ... in a way, yes, but I am proud to be acquainted with the folks I call my friends, both new and old. I've given up on seeing vast improvement in the short term but I anticipate great strides being made in the future. To be totally honest, though, this is not my final opinion on the matter. I may wake up the next day and feel totally different about it tomorrow. Although I've given the matter quite a lot of thought (perhaps too much), I still find it difficult to reach any sort of satisfying conclusion.
I know a few people were probably turned off by the pseudo-political nature of the update yesterday, but that's okay. If I lose a few potential readers by doing what I thought was appropriate and timely, then I can still sleep soundly at night. I do have a tendency to get myself in trouble when I try to come across as worldly or philosophical as people do tend to categorize me as such due to my articulate (alright, downright glib) leanings, whether it be the written word or simple everyday conversation. Granted, this probably isn't the most appropriate place to transform into my soapbox but I felt that that conversation would be something really quite nifty to share with a readership of about ten thousand people (thanks in no small part to the recent link generosity of Tycho and Largo). Whatever doubts I had about posting it before I went to bed were quelled by the volume of high quality forum posts and e-mails I received as the next day progressed.
I didn't ask anyone for permission to post their e-mail, so I'll refrain from doing that; but I will strongly encourage you to check out the following threads in the forum if discussion on this topic interests you: It's as easy as one, two, three. I made a couple of people cry, and I feel completely awful about it; but then again, I made some people confront the issue for the very first time in their lives, and I feel really great about that. On the whole, I'd have to say that Sertrel's idea of "dialogue" as we've seen in the forum and in my e-mail inbox has really carried the day. One particularly interested individual even planned on sharing the conversation with one of his classes. Quite cool. :) If you pass the link around and get some good feedback, let me how it goes, 'kay? I'd be exhilarated if this turned into a grass roots movement of sort, but I know my limitations as a "small-time Asian artist" as one critic put it. My opinion is just that: one man's opinion -- where "man" is questionable because even though I'm technically an adult in the eyes of the government, my clear abuse of sites like Just a Tip indicates a much much lower level of emotional maturity -- and shouldn't be regarded as the final authority on anything (except maybe computer games ;)).
Yes, I agree that this would be a most excellent place to launch into a discussion of Scott Kurtz's latest three-part rant on webcomics, but we'll save that for another day. Specifically, we'll save that for the day when I next update, most likely some hot steamy BBRO action on Saturday.
And now to make with the funny stuff (assuming you didn't sleep through the boring stuff), I present the following links for your perusal:
I'm happy to note that the conversation yesterday lured out a lot of lurkers in the BBoCS Forum.
IRC:
irc.enterthegame.com #bbocs #idlebanter
irc.nightstar.net #4toontellers
