Subject: Re: Understanding Erik Naggum
From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.no>
Date: 06 Oct 2002 14:41:59 +0000
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Message-ID: <3242904119701995@naggum.no>

* Pascal Costanza
| There is enough evidence that the "nice" approach is more effective than
| the "blunt" approach, even when dealing with adults.

  Those are not the only options.  Many people prefer being treated like
  children when they get a chance, and all you show is that by taking
  charge of their lives and making it your responsibility to make them feel
  good, they follow your lead.  But that is not what being an adult means.
  Being an adult means taking charge of your own life.  Some people say
  they did not become adults until they took charge of somebody else's
  life, but they are only big brothers to their own children, not adults.

  Treating people like adults produce far better results than treating them
  as children, however.  If all you test for is how childlike people respond
  under various stimuli, of course you get better results by being nice,
  but some people actually feel deeply insulted by treated like children.

-- 
Erik Naggum, Oslo, Norway

Act from reason, and failure makes you rethink and study harder.
Act from faith, and failure makes you blame someone and push harder.