Since everyone else is talking about it…
It’s Sunday. I’m looking through my RSS feeds enjoying the sun on my face and listening to Dire Straits thinking about an old girlfriend, Brenna, when it hits me. People really have their drawers matted to their ‘taints about the dude, Matt, who did a talk about CouchDB. I’ve come to some conclusions too regarding this event that I’d like to share.
I get it. Some people found it offensive. Some people thought it was fine. Some people used it as a means to expound on social-politics, alienation, of hell, you name it, this presentation brought out something very real in people. Who are you? Who are you “allowed” to be? Where do you draw the line and should you?
The thing I’m still curious about is the over reaction. Cause it really is an over-reaction. This was one dude. One presentation. He wanted to be edgy. He wanted to be funny. He wanted a reaction. He, most likely, wanted to (?:be|feel)+ cool. That’s ok. Either way, everyone’s talking about Matt and I’m sure that’s pretty cool to him. It sure as hell would be cool to me. Everyone listening. Everyone waiting to see what you say next…
Here’s the thing. Matt’s entitled to be whomever he chooses to be. That may prove to be a career limiting move. Certainly that will be the case if he wants to have a public speaking career in this tone. (Although if he’s got some lessons learned following this, this would be a great talk at SXSWi next year… just sayin, Matt.) But it’s his choice.
People fall along a spectrum of behavioral patterns. Some of those are more on the fringe than others. We publicly humiliate or shame them to identify where the line is again (always pushed a little further out than where we started) and go on believing we’re better than the martyr we just… well… you get my hyperbolic, sophomoric point.
In the end, Matt needs to take an improv class. The concept was good but the material was stale and end the end he misread the audience. Geeks are much more into binary jokes, Microsoft digs, and geek chic. Self deprecation would also have been a good choice, like shoot all the pr0n pictures with your Battlestar Galatica action figures. That way, you’re seen as edgy and creative and everyone does that with their starbuck and apollo dolls… I mean, Action Figures. … you see what I did there? Word.
