Well, I honestly think that categorizing people into these "jerk" and "asshole" categories based on some sampling of email communication is completely unfair.

Linus Torvalds as a _person_ is a JERK because he's ranting about his life-work in an email list?

I don't think Linus is a jerk just for being passionate about his work. His job is to be extremely critical of the code he reviews. Yes, he gets angry and uses swear words quite liberally but it's his style.

Have you ever been the subject of someone calling your work sh*t? The thing about using such inflammatory language as Linus does is that from the outside, you could say "he's criticizing your work, not you", but if it is directed at you, it's inevitable that you take it personally. It's not passion that makes him make others feel insignificant--it's who he is. It should be possible to be "extremely critical of the code he reviews" without the kind of vitriol that he's comfortable spewing.