[ajb]

I totally agree. The term is a puerile way of "owning the cons" following Haidt's idea that conservatives have a strong sense of disgust and liberals do not. The problem is that a) many conservatives are also a potential constituency for increasing integrity in the private sector, and b) many people on the political left also have a strong sense of disgust.

Doctorow himself I think has a weak sense of disgust (a lot of his writing, and the site he used to run (boingboing) serve the market of people for whom disgusting things are entertaining or funny, so I think he has a blind spot here.

[p3rls]

I can barely remember the boingboing era of the internet, but when I found out Doctorow was a serious writer I remember having a similar reaction...

Then again, look how the term has taken off, perhaps it's we who are the shit-marketers.

[keiferski]

I don't even think it goes as deep as right vs. left. It's more of a "hacker culture" (whatever that means in 2025) obsession with being subversive and fighting anyone that suggests metaphorically putting on suit and tie could actually solve the problem.

...as evidenced by the responses to my comment – the sheer hostility to the idea that maybe it's not a great idea to use the word shit in an activist project that aims at political change.

And so you're really not going to get any real change here, because it's easier to complain online and do nothing, while simultaneously shouting away anyone that suggests some minor changes would be more productive. The exact same conversation happens in the open source / free source movement.