22 January 2003

You can’t teach an old dog new tags

I once read a piece (maybe I linked it here, I don’t remember, and I’m certainly not going to search for it) where the author explained that he couldn’t stand how, everytime he told someone he was a writer, the guy answered oh! but I’ve always dreamt of writing a book! As if writing couldn’t be a real job, only a hobby; as if those who earned a living with their art didn’t do so because they had talent, but because they weren’t able to work for real (well, that’s still a little bit true, but not the way people think—not because they’re too dumb to work, but because they can’t put up with it).

It certainly doesn’t happen only to writers: it’s just more common for them than for painters, for instance, because the skills required to make a beautiful painting (and I’m not mentioning modern art here, because it’s a completely different problem) is much more evident to the viewers.

Well, I just noticed that it also applies to webdesigners. Every other time I tell someone what I do, they answer oh, cool, you’ll have to teach me. Right. Man, I get paid to make websites (well, when I do make any). Couldn’t there be some kind of reason for that? Like, it’s a job, you don’t learn it through a one-week training course with pillow breaks? Like, you can’t learn it all, it requires—come on, let’s say it, I can, especially now that you can’t comment my blog anymore—some kind of talent? Huh? Nah, couldn’t be. Oh yeah, and I’m pretty sure they ask the same thing of doctors, or mechanics, or nuclear physics researchers. It’s just that you don’t see as many of those in chatrooms.

Oh, I’ve always dreamt of building a neutron bomb! Will you teach me?

(Damn, I’m gonna get profiled by Echelon now.)