Comment by hr_land

This is one of Paul Graham's best essays. The historical timeline is accurate, the phrasing is much more careful than the comments here claim.

If you are 20 and in university, it will be hard to understand the historic perspective. You cannot just rip out single sentences and attack them without context.

If you disagree with everything, at least read the paragraph about Mao's cultural revolution, where he riled up young people against his political opponents. It may sound appealing if you are 20 and in university, but keep in mind that it can happen to you, too, just 8 years from now when the purity spiral has evolved.

Software organizations like Python have been taken over by shrewd manipulators who used exactly that tactic: Have a small "elite" that dictates ever changing morals, does not contribute much or anything at all and weaponizes new contributors against their opponents. The result is a dysfunctional organization where most interesting people have left, some companies still force contributions but there is virtually no organic open source activity. And a couple of "elites" have been fired by Google. That is the standard path of performative wokeness.

Anyway, a great essay and I hope that Paul Graham will treat us to more historic perspectives this year.