[ale] Misguided Linux enthusiast makes us all look bad

[Christopher Fowler]

This thread is finished.  Hitler has been referenced.

On Tue, Aug 26, 2003 at 05:02:44PM -0400, John Marasco wrote:
> If it fits sensibilities I'll say the French Resistance.  The point was 
> that if the leaders of a loosely organized movement "unleash the dogs" 
> they are likely to find that the dogs won't come back if called.  
> Analogies to the French Resistance may make some happy, but I would 
> wager that has more to do with how they want to view themselves than the 
> reality of the situation.  Realistically we should be able to agree that 
> the actions of Hitler bear little resemblance to the actions of SCO.  We 
> should also be able to agree that there are a lot more similarities 
> between the actions of the French Resistance and terrorists than between 
> the OS community and either group (which flaws either analogy).  SCO 
> isn't an uncompromisingly moral entity but that doesn't mean they are 
> out slaughtering millions and enslaving tens of millions more (just as 
> the OS community is a long way from blowing things up and killing 
> people).  A decent analogy (but by no means perfect) is between SCO's 
> rather self serving and self preserving tactics and the arguably self 
> serving and self preserving tactics of the US.  (I say arguably not 
> because I fail to see a bigger picture but because there are deceptively 
> coherent arguments in favor of the latter world view.)  The fact that 
> some Islamic clerics, the Free French Government and Eric all cast the 
> struggle as a great battle between good and evil doesn't mean that the 
> analogies are the same.  What SCO is doing is wrong but it is not a 
> "great evil" as Eric wrongly says it is.  There really are great evils 
> in the world but just because you believe you are the good guy doesn't 
> mean that every morally repugnant entity you fight is a "great evil".
> 
> Most "terrorist groups" supply a lot of social services and general 
> organization to their communities just as the mafia did here in the US.  
> These are unarguably "good" things these organizations do.  You could 
> say members of these organizations do bad things too.  Rational people 
> would not say that these acts are committed by some "misguided soul who 
> thinks that doing a 'bad' thing is the right thing".  Do you feel it's 
> appropriate to moderate moral outrage at individual excess based on the 
> cause supported?  Especially when the actions of the misguided souls can 
> be traced back to the words, actions and/or interests of the leaders.  
> In our case, one could argue a causal relationship between leaders 
> spouting misguided words and followers taking misguided actions.  If so 
> it could be argued that if Eric wants to stop the misguided actions he 
> should scale back the rhetoric.  You can't announce to a vast following 
> that we are "at war" and that the enemy is the "evil empire" and expect 
> that no one will take those words literally.  First off, the words are 
> wrong in the OS/SCO conflict and second of all the belief that not one 
> follower will take them seriously is silly.
> 
> If we don't restrain our verbal AND physical excess then others will.  
> Eric is 100% right when he says that we should restrain our physical 
> excess.  What Eric doesn't acknowledge is that one man's physical excess 
> is another man's "honest" or "rational" view of the situation and views 
> are shaped by leaders.  I think Eric's words convey an excessive view of 
> the situation.  I think this incident was a result of that fact and that 
> Eric should acknowledge that if he wants the incidents to stop.  But 
> hey, I'm just an idiot giving the evil guys more ammunition for FUD so 
> what do I know. ;)
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
_______________________________________________
Ale mailing list
Ale at ale.org
http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale