<rant>
I think plenty kids out there trying to make a name for themselves are just waiting to construct a big ol' enemy they can then vaingloriously "deconstruct". The more dogmatic your target looks, the smarter you look for smashing it. I am all for rethinking stuff, not being intimidated by established knowledge, lively experimentation, daring exploration, etc. But I take issue with how some people interpret "respect" as a fundamental problem. Just as much as it is silly to obey the sacrosanct, the way efforts and persons of the past are mistreated often resembles more blanket malice and mindless spite than actually useful continuation of discourse.
Many make it just way too easy on themselves. Like they have no respect for something, I have no respect for them. It's not necessary to treat things badly, borderline shit talk someone, and sell that as valuable progress on the matter. No, kid, you gotta deliver substance. You actually gotta get some hard work done, a counter that has the substance to measure up to what you're criticizing. Impress me. Come on. put some effort into it. The mindset of the best people doing the most revolutionary work, was to honor the past, understand the past's problems, why people did what they did, their struggles, their hardship, and why it got you where you are now. And from that point of appreciative understanding, reassemble knowledge with loving care.
Much of that pseudo revolutionary twittering simply is not contributing actual progress, it may as well hold back progress. It's rare to find something that's worth even deconstructing. And as if that would be the only means of making worthwhile contributions. And yet with or without that, everyday things happen for me that are wondrous and magical. Whether someone thinks it's revolutionary or established, who gives a fuck. Show me some good hard bloody work, that you meant business.
Someone out there gotta see your stuff and think "oh, now I feel inspired, able to do something." That's really why you do what you do, no matter old or new, inspire creativity. Sometimes you gonna ruffle some feathers with your work. But one day, whatever you do, someone's gonna turn that table on you. Remember that. And I tell you what, not only established respect is intimidating and holds back things, it's also worries about inconsiderate shitstorms on other people's business, that goes both ways.
You never heard Einstein whining about Newton. Never did he think in his work "Damn, that Newton was just way too full of himself! Too many people look up to him! gotta do something about him! Show the world that he's an idiot and I'm not!" This shit never factored into his work, that's why it's actually good. And even when he got all this backlash, and they argued with Newton in his face, he didn't go smear Newton, he didn't try kick the pedestal from under him, he didn't say "You people better stop reading Newton, it's a waste of time now, relatively speaking, and the guy was way too convinced of himself at the time! Who cares about his rules or laws!", that shit simply wasn't necessary nor fair nor in any way relevant to the work. It's all about your work. All you gotta do is believe in your own work and show why it's good, beautiful and useful, not why someone else's is not, or why someone else's would hold you back.
And that I am suckered into adding just another dumb rant on top of heap of shit, just shows why that makes me bitter. Now fast forward here, and see Cyangmou's latest post, in which he ponders about something substansive, and you got the answer why I'm here, why I like it here, and not silly tangential chatter about a person or about work, instead of just doing your god damn work.
</rant>