Flippant Remarks about Matt in South Africa
This is not another Blog post about accusing yet another white guy of being a racist. This is not a veiled attempt at trying to “trick” a mufukka into “giving” me attention. I think Jesse Jackson’s rumored ability to exchange white-liberal guilt for money and political power is real and dishonorable. So this, like most moments, is a moment in history. My intent is to preserve the thoughts that swirl around Matt Mullenweg and his photos from South Africa. He took photos on a farm in South Africa and from his developer’s camp in South Africa for a PHP application called WordPress.
Many of you will look at the photos and go, “What?” Many might say, “I see people who happen to be in Africa drilling down into the minutiae of technical business.” I’m pretty sure I have an accurate understanding of you. Now it’s my turn:
- What I see are photos of the people left alive in Africa who were able to make it to the peaceful meeting after warfare and carnage on a scale that is obviously unimaginable—because were it actually imaginable the smiles (that I assume are authentic) in the photos would not come so easily. Just because some public events under the heading “truth and reconciliation” were held does not mean that Steven Spielberg should stop thinking about Jewish history in 1939 in the year 2008. It is an irrelevant, left-brain-dominant specification to point out that the people in attendance with Matt have “nothing” to do with racial atrocities in South Africa. What Matt is eagerly attending and photographing is not matter of innocence or guilt—this is a matter of aesthetics.
- Imagine the scenario when Matt shows up at his San Francisco office and let’s pretend that, say, Ed Dunn of Fooky.com is being paid six figures for some consultancy. Matt wants to show Ed and whoever else standing in the room his photos from South Africa. People in the room are saying, “That looks like a whole lot of fun!” Someone might even say, “I wish I could have made it!” What is Ed going to say in that situation? We have to hope that Matt is the kind of guy that is not overly sensitive to whatever Ed might say. We have to assume that Matt is objective enough and technology-focused enough to continue to evaluate Ed on his merits—no matter what Ed feels about Matt’s trip to South Africa. And remember Ed is not going to go out of his way to hurt a guy’s feelings—but at the same time Ed is not going to hurt himself as well. What would Ed do?
- Let’s take it up a notch. Imagine that someone in the room, looking at this white-owned farm in South Africa with Ed, is savvy enough to say something like, “Hey! I wonder did they have a farm like that in Zimbabwe.” The person making the statement almost looks like he is setting Ed up (because the statistical probability that Ed would be the only “black guy” in the room is very high)—like the person is trying to force Ed to make (or, worse, force him not to make) a political statement about Mugabe’s anti-white Zimbabwe policy in particular and Africa in general—like it’s a ‘test’ or something… I have no idea how I would get myself out of that one and still feel like a man worthy enough to bring African-descended children into this world… and that’s why I don’t have trouble trying to figure out where to stash my cash this year. You don’t see a correlation? Hmm… I must be making excuses. But these “excuses” are written here in public (with Matt’s great software) and not dumped on innocent victims in the “privacy” of my home…Just in case you were wondering… that’s just how subtle the interactions go in the office… it does not matter that Ed literally can replace ten incompetent men with his incredible technical skills… in some work environments, responding “incorrectly” to the photos of the white guy’s farm in South Africa may suddenly mean you have “communication problems” with “the team”… The composed objectivity of business leaders is too often a false pretense…
People of strong African features who are very, very successful in the “mainstream” lucre of the business world either have incredible social skills—Raoul Wallenberg social skills—or they were born with some kind of spoon in their mouth, planted firmly in the missionary position. My apologies for my brutish simplicity—I spend too much time with technical issues rather than social ones… No, really… it’s my fault… I need to get out more often…
This Blog post comes from a satisfied WordPress user… Matt, I appreciate the work!