Re:What is it like to be a geek in a prison?
by arca_vorago on Thursday December 26, 2013 @01:37PM
(#6967319)
A thousand times this. When did it become wrong to bring up issues with the persons involved? This is one of the things I have noticed as a growing personality traits largely in the younger generation, where all conflict is avoided through passing all responsibility up to whichever higher authority is around. So we have given the authorities the power to create systems like this and still haven't realized that sometimes, when that person who you have an issue with, is prone to violence, lies, and numerous other skullduggeries, you have to walk into that confrontation either armed yourself or with some visible external backing. I would venture to say our police state national security apparatus is quickly falling under this category.
Re:What is it like to be a geek in a prison?
by vacri on Thursday December 26, 2013 @06:34PM
(#6968644)
It's a false dichotomy. There's no solid rule. Sometimes going to the authorities is the best course of action, sometimes a direct approach, and sometimes going to a third party. It depends on the situation.
I've actually found "deal directly with the person with whom you have the issue" is a good default rule in most areas of life (work, social, etc.) even where the issue is the kind of thing for which there is an available authority.
Recourse to authority when that fails, or when there is a specific reason in the immediate case to believe that dealing directly will be ineffective or involve intolerable risks is still part of the equation, but not the default action.