The Tailwind Backlash

It's inevitable that when a tool becomes popular, maybe even ubiquitous, a critical mass of critical folks will start to form.

We've reached what I am guessing is the Trough of Disillusionment stage of the Hype Cycle. Enough mainstream players (framework authors, larger development agencies, etc.) have embraced it that there is now a decent number of folks who now have exposure to it whether they like it or not. And some portion of those users are not happy with their experience.

In other words, the backlash seems healthy, natural, and entirely predictable.

However, the tone of some of these posts has risen to a nearly quasi-religious fervency.

For example, I don't agree with the take that the popularity of Tailwind is:

• a harbinger of the "death of craftsmanship" (Tailwind, and the death of web craftsmanship)
• rooted in a sexist belittling of the "femininity of CSS" (Tailwind and the femininity of CSS)
• "built out of basic ignorance of using HTML and CSS properly" (TailwindUI, And Here’s The Real Failwind Scam)

Take a few moments with these posts and you will notice the intensely defensive tone that implies a real anger or fear or both.

Consistent among them is what I view as an aesthetic preference being confused for a moral, ethical, or technical transgression.

Aesthetics vs. Ethics

This type of backlash against something that has broken into the mainstream is a pretty common phenomenom.

A good example of this (and please hear me that this is not equivalent to the Tailwind debate) is NIMBYism. If you're unfamiliar with the phenomenon, just look out for the phrase "protecting the character of the neighborhood". Even though allowing for new housing actually decreases the total rate of housing displacement, NIMBYs like to prevent new developments because they want their neighborhood to stay the same. But it's not a good enough reason to say "I don't like change", so they rationalize with bogus claims rooted in "enviromentalism" (spoiler: higher density is better for the environment) or "protecting neighborhood character" (spoiler: this means keep new, different people out).

Read Jerusalem Demsas for more on this if you're not convinced by this short tangent.

But my larger point is that sometimes we trick ourselves into thinking our dislike of something has some noble purpose, when often it comes from a sense of asethetic "ick".

It's not like Tailwind is perfect

As I've written about before, there are most certainly pros and cons to Tailwind. I find that for my needs and for the projects I work on day-to-day it solves more problems than it creates.

The drawbacks that other folks mention just don't come into play for me regularly, so the quality-of-life improvements are worth it for me and my team.

But that's the crux of it, isn't it? Tailwind is a tool. Use it if it's helpful; don't police its use by other people.