That's a great point which never occurred to me about Dijkstra, even though I knew where he came from. My father in law used to like this joke: "He was Dutch and behaved as such."

I’d want to see an example of Dijkstra’s “arrogance” that wasn’t justified.

The “truths that might hurt” essay is a great example. Yeah, the truth hurts for many people. People don’t like being called out on their folly, particularly if it’s something they don’t personally control. That Durant make it “arrogant” to point it out.

Also, Alan Kaye is overrated. Object orientation is one of those painful truths.

The quote makes much more sense as an in-joke between two like-minded people, because Alan Kay isn't exactly humble himself nor does he avoid provocative statements.

And speaking as a Dutch man, given the kind of humor we have I'm pretty certain Dijkstra appreciated a good roast like that too.

> and so people need to stop repeating it

That would seem to be your sentiment, not his, based on the link you shared. Rather than being censorious he shared a nice story on the matter.

Weirdly, that ten-year-old Alan Kay comment is shown as "1 day ago" by HN.