Great writing and reporting as always, but I'm sad to read Jezebel is shutting down. I lived on that site "back in the day," though admittedly haven't been there much at all over the past few years.
As someone who started out in IT as a data-tape monkey in the 90s and literally self-taught myself into a lead developer with a 15-year career *and* a business owner ... this boggles my mind. How is the idea of this a dunk? Why is suggesting that people in the Rust Belt learn a skill that can get them a job that leads to a six-figure salary a BAD thing?
As part of my journey, I've made it an absolute point to get people I think would have a knack for coding into the game. A friend went from piano tutor to managing an engineering team and making more money than me ... in like 3 years. She's an amazing person to have in tech, and paying it forward. I was a teacher for a while at a medical assistant school, teaching basic Word, medical coding and other skills. I had a woman in her late 50s come into the school because she was laid off from her job at a brewery on the line - and she had NEVER SEEN A (COMPUTER) MOUSE. Over the course of 8 months, she became one of my best students.
I want to lay this at the feet of, what, anti-intellectualism? Anti-education? Stirring up the shitpot of class warfare? The idea that suggesting people learn what is at least the opportunity to have a skill that's in demand now, only going to be increasingly in demand, and give you the flexibility to work remotely anywhere on the planet for an actual living wage ... that's a PUT DOWN?
I am flummoxed. Please explain it to me like I'm five.
I'm now wondering if the visceral, knee-jerk rejection of any prospect of having to act or think differently (which we've seen so much of in recent years) sometimes manifests in a refusal to distinguish between is and ought. Maybe that's why some interpret articles about programs for learning new skills being available as condescending mandates and regard any representation of people or lifestyles beyond their bounds for normalcy as an agenda being shoved down their throats.
As noted, articles have expounded the potential benefits of learning to code for myriad groups of people (including some not facing unemployment), and I just can't quite wrap my head around what some people find so objectionable about advice.
There have been whole libraries written about rural people who feel condescended-to by city people (who are all liberals, natch.) It's just a feeling rural people have, as old as the existence of cities themselves, it needs no evidence, they just KNOW it's true. It's really nothing more than bigotry, people who you see as different from you must be bad and untrustworthy and plotting against you. Republicans are skilled at playing off this feeling, but that shouldn't be a surprise, exploiting ALL forms of bigotry is really their Core Competency.
Parker -- I threw up when I saw you refer to Erick Erickson as a "pundit". He's not a "pundit". He's an idiot. His opinions are consistently the dumbest, most vapid garbage of just about anybody. People need to stop treating him as if he is George Will or William F. Buckley. He's a moron with, somehow, a platform to spread his moronicisms.
As Journalists Lose Jobs, Right-Wing Social Media Accounts Mockingly Say "Learn to Code"... Again.
Great writing and reporting as always, but I'm sad to read Jezebel is shutting down. I lived on that site "back in the day," though admittedly haven't been there much at all over the past few years.
As someone who started out in IT as a data-tape monkey in the 90s and literally self-taught myself into a lead developer with a 15-year career *and* a business owner ... this boggles my mind. How is the idea of this a dunk? Why is suggesting that people in the Rust Belt learn a skill that can get them a job that leads to a six-figure salary a BAD thing?
As part of my journey, I've made it an absolute point to get people I think would have a knack for coding into the game. A friend went from piano tutor to managing an engineering team and making more money than me ... in like 3 years. She's an amazing person to have in tech, and paying it forward. I was a teacher for a while at a medical assistant school, teaching basic Word, medical coding and other skills. I had a woman in her late 50s come into the school because she was laid off from her job at a brewery on the line - and she had NEVER SEEN A (COMPUTER) MOUSE. Over the course of 8 months, she became one of my best students.
I want to lay this at the feet of, what, anti-intellectualism? Anti-education? Stirring up the shitpot of class warfare? The idea that suggesting people learn what is at least the opportunity to have a skill that's in demand now, only going to be increasingly in demand, and give you the flexibility to work remotely anywhere on the planet for an actual living wage ... that's a PUT DOWN?
I am flummoxed. Please explain it to me like I'm five.
I'm now wondering if the visceral, knee-jerk rejection of any prospect of having to act or think differently (which we've seen so much of in recent years) sometimes manifests in a refusal to distinguish between is and ought. Maybe that's why some interpret articles about programs for learning new skills being available as condescending mandates and regard any representation of people or lifestyles beyond their bounds for normalcy as an agenda being shoved down their throats.
As noted, articles have expounded the potential benefits of learning to code for myriad groups of people (including some not facing unemployment), and I just can't quite wrap my head around what some people find so objectionable about advice.
There have been whole libraries written about rural people who feel condescended-to by city people (who are all liberals, natch.) It's just a feeling rural people have, as old as the existence of cities themselves, it needs no evidence, they just KNOW it's true. It's really nothing more than bigotry, people who you see as different from you must be bad and untrustworthy and plotting against you. Republicans are skilled at playing off this feeling, but that shouldn't be a surprise, exploiting ALL forms of bigotry is really their Core Competency.
Parker -- I threw up when I saw you refer to Erick Erickson as a "pundit". He's not a "pundit". He's an idiot. His opinions are consistently the dumbest, most vapid garbage of just about anybody. People need to stop treating him as if he is George Will or William F. Buckley. He's a moron with, somehow, a platform to spread his moronicisms.