Re: Okay all you independent contractors: hit the bricks with THIS

[Andrew Plato <gilliankitty -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

"Tulloch, Michael" wrote...

> I know I'm new around here, but that is patently ridiculous. Understanding is
> not important? If you don't make what you're doing understandable, you have
no
> customers, no partners, and in the end, no employees. (It's a classic case of
> "information hoarding".) 

Welcome Mike.

Hording information is what gives people power and gives information value.  
To a technical writer, such an attitude should seem rediculous. Your job is to
make information MORE accessable. So its natural for you to feel that attitude
is rediculous.

But not everybody shares that attitude. 

Look at what is happening with the Iraq war. Information was manipulated to
make people think there was a danger, when there really wasn't. This gave
people power and authority to get something accomplished. 

In terms of customers - do really think Ford, ADM, Microsoft, or any other
company tells you the REAL truth?  Do you honestly think that when a big
company says "of course our products are safe." they really mean that?  Well,
if its packaged properly, then you'll believe it. If its not, you won't. If you
were able to have access to the REAL truth about certain products and
technologies, you probably wouldn't use them because you would realize how
dumb, dangerous, or simple they really were. Same goes for the government and
Area 51. 

"The most valuable commodity I know of is information."
- Gordon Gekko

I am not defending these behaviors, just explaining them. You don't have to
agree with them, but if you understand them, you can understand why they exist.
And why some people don't feel its necessariy to make information more
accessible. 

Andrew Plato 


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