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I think it depends. I'm inclined to agree with Linus' approach, but I'll just argue that sometimes "abuse, swearing and provoking people" is the best approach.

Some of the best lessons I learned was being chewed out by a manager. The magnitude of my stupidity or fuck-up would simply not have sunken in even if this manager had been factual and direct, without chewing me out.

The same goes for my youth. I remember some lessons mostly because they involved my father yelling at me. I recall very few lessons where he sat me down and provided a detailed, factual argument of why I was being a dumb-ass.

I don't get the impression that, in growing up, our ability to assess magnitudes of failure by factual analysis of the situation has improved enough to render 'chewing-out' pointless.




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