People are strange. Period.
Even how I decided on that statement is strange. Perhaps I should elaborate?
The latest issue of Tux Magazine (a free electronic mag) is out. This is a great resource for new(er) Linux users. I haven't considered myself a new user anymore (truthfully, I'm not sure if I ever have), but there are some good articles in there, and I like to read the Letters section to see what areas people may be having trouble with. In this months edition, a fellow wrote in to comment on how he was putting Linux aside for the time being, due to the "negative Linux in-fighting". He is referring to to how some Linux advocates will attack other operating systems with almost religious zeal. This comment triggered a thought process that leads me to the statement "People are strange". Here's how I got from point A to point B.
Yes, there are those in the Linux camp who are VERY vocal when that other operating system is mentioned. But is the phenomenon unique to Linux? The answer is an easy no. It is not unique to Linux. One just has to look to the hundreds of years of war and strife in the name of religion to see a parallel. But religion is a sensitive topic, so let us look to another, less sensitive, example. How about cars? Do you know any Ford men? Or Chevy men? (cars are stereotypically male oriented, so I am not trying to be sexist here.) What I mean by this is a fellow who only ever buys a Ford and thinks that all other brands are crap? Or not as reliable, or more expensive, or... well, any reason that would justify the decision to buy only Fords. I've seen people like this for almost any brand of vehicle. The good news is that it has become a friendly rivalry and no one has gone to war with anyone else over what brand of car they choose to drive.
This concept can be applied to any number of other topics. I see it in sports (my team is better than yours), clothing, education, career choices, etc. So, the question is why? Why do people do this? This question is not so easy to answer. I suspect psychologists will still be discussing this type of issue a hundred years from now.
The heart of it, I believe, is that when a person makes a choice they feel they need to justify their choice. Especially with those who may not agree with their choice. To help in justifying their choice, a person may highlight the advantages of their choice. But if those advantages are not immediately obvious, then they might highlight the flaws with the alternatives. Apparently the social conscience just doesn't accept a reason like "I felt like it" for a choice. But why would this be? I like Coke (the cola, not the drug), but if you ask me why, you likely wouldn't accept the simple statement "because I do". No, that's not REALLY a reason now is it? So I would be forced to put the reasons for my choice into some form of words that might be considered a reason. Even if those words were "because everything else sucks". That's still not much of a reason, but strangely people find that more acceptable than "because I do".
But even worse is the fact that what one person might consider a good reason, another might consider to be totally foolish. So another choice of words would need to be found to satisfy this outher group. Before you know it, you have developed a whole litany of phrases that express why you've made the choice. And now that you've gone through that much trouble, you may as well go the next step and find other people who agree with your choice - or at least with your words. And there's the rub. There will ALWAYS be some who do not see things the way you do. If they don't agree with you, then they must be wrong. Because the only alternative is that you have wasted all that effort on a choice that is wrong.
The world does work that way, even if the actual choice in the first place was relatively meaningless. People want a clear cut, yes or no, right or wrong type of situation. In reality though we live in a world that gives us shades of gray, or partial truths. We think "if it is not right, then it must be wrong", when really the statement should be "it is not as right as it could be". There is no real easy way to explain why this happens. Some people do see the shades of gray, while other see only black and white.
The only explanation I can see for this (at 4:00am, so take it for what it's worth), is that people are strange.