I think the difference of perspective comes from the different nature of the work Lisp is being used for.
If your job is to create the next version of Lisp, it makes sense to watch how that new feature of Clojure plays out.
On the other hand, if your job is to deliver a nice application to users who need it, you don't really care about how that feature will look 20 years from now - you use it if it makes your problem simpler to solve.
That said, I wish application developers were less susceptible to language/library/framework fashion. I dread to support (and enhance) Java apps that rely on a stack of frameworks like the developers were playing some buzzword bingo game with the product.
- C has a very strong community, and people who don't like C go out there and create their own dialects or substitutes (like Go) without constantly harassing on each other. I won't go as far as saying nobody would insult me there as you're doing here, but at least there's some mutual respect that is driven by the interest for the language. The same could be said for the Python or Ruby (and no, I haven't decided and I won't, I use the right tool for the job) communities, but I have not had that experience with Lisp/Clojure/Scheme fans.
- The various communities around Linux distributions similarly bash on each other, but thankfully I'm not in as much of a loss there as I were back in high school with no clue about what Lisp even was. I can safely ignore their rants because in that context, I can judge for myself. When it comes to Lisp dialects, I don't know my way around and the community made it hard for me to learn anything concrete.
See, in many a case, it is difficult to get into a discussion without encountering some bizarre religious argument about "which shell do you use" or "why not C++?", similar to several recurring themes here in HN (see the recent "C is a macro assembler" arguments). Not only are such arguments unhelpful, but they're a waste of time for anyone who wants to delve into a subject. While the above may be anecdotal evidence drawn from personal experience, I see others share my view, and I don't believe in coincidence.
Would you care to argue that the Lisp community is better than any of these?
I recommend that place to any intelligent students, researchers, language weenies, compiler hackers and system engineers. Just be informed and don't ask opinionated, loaded questions.
Elsewhere? meh, I am left to think my present company has just been introduced to computing by its $LANG_MANUAL.
There is also a lot of childish fucking around and casual piss-taking that doesn't happen among Lispers. If you expect an standing ovation because you pushed something to github, fuggedaboutit. No one will be retweeting wisdom, no one will like you on facebook, you will not be blogged about ..
Ever wonder why Lispers, and most adult programming communities don't have "Rock Star" celeb provocateurs?
Maybe not anymore, but that stuff used to happen very regularly on comp.lang.lisp during the years I paid attention to it (2003ish through 2006ish, maybe).
It's a messy place to be, but there are some ivory treasures to dig up.
And most adult programming communities have something worse than the "Rock Star" stereotype: the "Authority". For Lisp in particular, there are plenty who struggle for that title.
PS. Indeed, "I pushed 20 of my projects to Github"...who cares, is anyone of them any good?
(By the way, "Lisp community" is a bit of an oxymoron, IMHO; everyone seems to be stuck on his own island.)