Realizing that I haven’t posted for a week or so, I figured I’d catch up…<\/p>\n
Work and the order have kept me running very ragged of late. I like to joke that we have I have 4 checkpoint blocking bugs and checkpoint is 2 weeks ago. Which I guess is a good thing because 2 weeks ago I had 15.<\/p>\n
Corporate calendars and reality.<\/p>\n
Which gets me on to today’s topic. Entertainment vs. reality.<\/p>\n
I’ve discovered that I like my reality delivered in allegory and symbolism when presented by entertainment. I don’t like it shown to me as reality. I don’t need that. I get enough reality in the time that I am not in front of the big or little screen.<\/p>\n
Reality is a sharp edged sword that is dulled by entertainment. Allegory is a concealed weapon that goes deep to the heart.<\/p>\n
Walking into the office I noticed that our manager of marketing for consumer based products had put up several Dilbert cartoons.<\/p>\n
I stopped reading Dilbert in 1998.<\/p>\n
For someone in the IT industry and software engineering in particular. This must seem an odd statement. The explanation is simple…<\/p>\n
After 17 years in the software engineering field… Dilbert isn’t funny anymore. The occurrences are too accurate and true to life.<\/p>\n
One of my two theater professors in college made a comment in class about the masks of tragedy and comedy.<\/p>\n
Tragedy occurs when the central character can’t simply step away from the fantastic situations that inevitably will doom their life. The situation becomes so impossible it’s almost laughable.<\/p>\n
Comedy is our gut reaction to the truest situations that leave our only defense as to find humour. When in truth the absolute highest from of comedy is often a topic we should cry at.<\/p>\n
Dilbert isn’t funny. When in my career I have watched employees (in past jobs)<\/p>\n
It becomes harder to read these and laugh, “Ha… that’s just like my life.”<\/p>\n
Maybe I’ve become an idealist. But personally, I’d like my entertainment to be fantasy based on allegory because I’d like to hope, that in the long run there is a chance that in ‘the real world’ it could never get that bad.<\/p>\n
Dilbert reminds us that in the I.T. industry. It does get that bad.<\/p>\n
Strange idealism coming from my little windowless office. Especially from one who considers his full-time conversion to cynic (give your self to the dark side) complete.<\/p>\n
But the idealism stands. I live by the tenants of my religion and ethics that maybe.. just maybe… it’s not a Dilbertain world. So I don’t read it.<\/p>\n
Side note: for similar reasons, I could never watch “Married With Children”<\/p>\n