Ever actually tried? I've contacted well-known people in their field (most recently Hugh Darwen for an obscure database question) and I find them very willing to help if you don't waste their time. Stop with the it's-all-stacked-against-us-don't-even-try bullshit.

It's not about being stacked against one, it's more that one understands the constraints other might have and is more hesitant to reach out, instead of doing a round more of research yourself and using more general forums first.

It's crazy to realise that these people you look up to are actually other human beings and with just a little bit of luck you can strike up a normal conversation with them and they won't hate you for it!

I am scared to ask another team question about my work without checking documentation twice because I'm scared I'll ask something that's already covered in detail somewhere.

I am very good at asking stupid questions. Thankfully, my teammates are patient with me.

Can you imagine wasting the time of one of the brilliant minds of our times and it turns out to be user error?

I would say try to sleep on a problem before reaching out for help if time permits. Probably isn't good for business but it is good for my personal development.

Exactly what you say; sleep on it first. Make sure you've done your background work. But then, don't be afraid to contact them.

> I am very good at asking stupid questions. Thankfully, my teammates are patient with me.

Are your questions really so stupid, are theirs really so much smarter when they ask, or are you being harsh on yourself perhaps.

Go on then, give us the info

> but there are equivalently extremes in the behaviors of people with Western, liberal-individualistic belief systems

These are?

Killing strangers for minor violations of your property rights... killing multiple strangers in a rage of entitlement... calling police to kill or punish strangers who are having mental health crises for minor violations of public behavior ordinances... basically killing or punishing strangers for any old reason. I'd venture to guess we do orders of magnitude more of it per capita in the West than people in Muslism countries do honor killings of kin.

> Killing strangers for minor violations of your property rights

You give no examples. Also I'm in the UK and can't remember the last time anyone was killed for trespass or other minor violations (okay, one or two over a decade I think).

> killing multiple strangers in a rage of entitlement

You give no examples. Post some evidence, overall numbers of such cases, details please.

> calling police to kill or punish strangers who are having mental health crises for minor violations of public behavior ordinances

You give no examples - post summary details.

> basically killing or punishing strangers for any old reason. I

You give no examples.

> I'd venture to guess

so no evidence whatsover

> we do orders of magnitude more of it per capita in the West

The US is not 'the West'. Perhaps you'd like to consider the UK, Germany, Scandinavia....

I suspect you're right in thinking honour killings aren't common (<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honour_killing_in_Pakistan#Pre...> "The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan lists 460 cases of reported honour killings in 2017, with 194 males and 376 females as victims"), but it's the extreme point of a pervasively oppressive/intolerant system which can ruin lives without actually killing people.

The US is not 'the West', but it's certainly an example of the

> extremes in the behaviors of people with Western, liberal-individualistic belief systems

I can think a of few similar non-US examples of the above behaviors, but he's already answered the original question.

> The US is not 'the West', but it's certainly an example of the

Yes, I take your point, he was talking of that specific subset, not (as I read it) the west in general.

> ..but he's already answered the original question.

Within that specific subset, I'd agree he has. Thanks.