Nice post, made a few good points. But it's just a vain battle about a not so very interesting "manifesto" by some people who think they need to make some point (or whatever).

I'm not a 501 programmer for sure. I agree, that there is a culture as you describe it, but I strongly disagree, that every programmer somehow needs to be part of this culture. I have worked with many 501 programmers and often enough they do a good job and take away a lot of work during their office hours (especially the boring kind of work). Actually I think most everyday programmers are of this kind.

The part about pitying wasn't very smart and (as you say), adding a small piece of "respect" doesn't really help it very much. But to care about it, my first step would have to be to take this whole manifesto thing seriously, which I can't do. Most 501 I know wouldn't care about it too. Especially since it doesn't say much in the first place.