What is this, Minnesota?

[lydy]

No one is disagreeing with me on the post "Who sawed Courtney's boat?" C'mon, people, where's the love?

Comments

This seemed applicable, in a very oblique sense

[davidschroth.livejournal.com]

14. Good intentions are not enough. Few things are more painful than trying to do good and finding out that you've done a great deal of harm instead. Simple compassion and simple morality are inadequate in a complex world. The bumbling missionary causes tragedy because he follows his heart without using his head to try to understand the whole situation.

If you don't have a thoughtful plan that's based on a thorough understanding of the system -- and which has been subjected to critique by the affected parties, and shaken out in a couple of proof-of-concept test runs -- then do us all a favor and just keep your damn fingers out of the system entirely. Sometimes (more often than not, in fact), it's best just to leave even not-quite-well-enough alone.

From a post by Sara, at David Neiwart's blog Orcinus.

Mind you, it's not clear that I am capable of following the advice of leaving the not-quite-well-enough alone.

Re: This seemed applicable, in a very oblique sense

[lydy.livejournal.com]

It sounds like a rather optimistic view of the ability of people to see unforseen consequences before they are seen. I agree that simplistic morality and simplistic compassion are no excuse for thinking. But thinking only gets you so far, then you're back to trial and error. Leaving things alone is, of course, also an action, and that should not be ignored.

Sorry, just expanding and correcting to be polite. :-)