RE: Non - Linux - But good article

I still do not see how anything I wrote before was "political"?  I
posted the link FIRST before my text for obvious reasons of "context".

I am often horrified by how some people are quick to say something is a
slur or racist or political.  Yet as a 3rd generation Irishman, why
should I not get offended at those "Irishman, Englishman, American"
jokes that lay claim to the apparent stupidity of my forefathers?

Is that not racist also?  Of course - but that is politically
'acceptable'.  

If I go and make a comment about the quality of construction in Beijing,
I am labelled a culturally insensitive gate crasher?

Go figure?

The fact of the matter is this:

A perfectly good article was presented and Fred went of half-cocked,
half-informed and half-enlightened and got his knickers in a knot.

Let's not obfuscate the issue.  I was unilaterally tared and feathered
for injecting some "food for thought".  Dare I mention anything about
the dust storm yesterday, I could get labelled as some kind of unwanted
environmentalist practitioner.


RF.


On Wed, 2004-03-31 at 11:08, Graham Brown wrote:
> Hi Amy,
> 
> Clearly,my comments were not addressing the article itself.
> 
> Your views are welcome, but Fred is also probably right that the real issue 
> is whether the list is a space for the expression of political views that 
> are not technically related to Linux or OS issues.
> 
> There are plenty of Linux related political issues for those interested in 
> advocacy:
> 
> Despite all the open source "advocacy" of the Chinese government, many 
> government websites are only MS compliant, not standards compliant.   This 
> creates problems in accessing information from OS browsers such as Mozilla.
> 
> Writing tax receipts (fapiao) requires (unless there are alternatives that 
> I am not aware of) the use of software that only runs on MS windows.  There 
> are other "official" issues that similarly require that you have MSW installed.
> 
> There are also China specific graphic file formats that are, so far as I 
> know, only supported in MSW.
> 
> If China adopts its own wifi and other standards, who is going to write the 
> linux drivers?  Will information be made available to enable drivers to be 
> written?
> 
> etc etc.
> 
> At 10:26 AM 31/03/2004 +0800, you wrote:
> >the point was not about the article but the comments in the email... I guess
> >I was not clear enough.
> >Besides this is a Linux group and not a Freedom of speech group. I remember
> >not so long ago the issue being raised about sticking to Linux/Open source
> >subject.... so why not anymore?
> >
> >Fred
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: blug-general-bounces-+qp3TudyjKPvfBIPTTProkB+6BGkLq7r@public.gmane.org
> >[mailto:blug-general-bounces-+qp3TudyjKPvfBIPTTProkB+6BGkLq7r@public.gmane.org] On Behalf Of Su Jiang
> >Sent: Wednesday 31 March, 2004 10:16
> >To: 'Beijing LUG general non-technical discussion list - Not
> >publiclyposted'; [email protected]
> >Subject: RE: [blug-general] Non - Linux - But good article
> >
> >
> >Hi, as a Chinese I would like to make a few comments too.
> >
> >I like the article that Richard recommended.  I am really into my job and
> >can't follow up with the discussion in this mailing list all the time.
> >Often I skipped the articles that Bluggers recommended in their email but I
> >happened to read this article and found it is very informative, interesting
> >and intelligent.  Personally I would like to thank Richard to have taken
> >efforts and time to pick this great article and shared with us, isn't
> >sharing the true spirit of Linux?
> >
> >I tend to think Fred has been a bit emotional on this issue.  Whatever we
> >felt about the wordings or opinions of the article does not change the fact
> >at all, right?  The truth is out there, hiding from the truth does not
> >change it, neither denial.  The article may not telling the ultimate truth,
> >but it is informative enough to expend the horizon of our knowledge about
> >skyscrapers, isn't this a nice thing?  Why we geeks have to sit in the well
> >of technology and stay away from other interesting knowledge?  The spirit of
> >technology is not about learning and building but to explore with passion -
> >it is a fun tour!
> >
> >I understand Fred's concern about saving bluggers' time by keeping this
> >mailing list specialized in technology issues only.  I have to say that this
> >sound a bit too up-tight for me. I am an up-tight person at my job too, but
> >I don't take this mailing list as serious as my job, and I don't think we
> >need to.  I think this is a mailing list of freedom. Richard has the freedom
> >of posing articles for people's interest, people who are not interested has
> >the freedom of not reading it, and Fred has the freedom to claim that he was
> >offended.  I don't agree to make any rules on this mailing list for that
> >will break the spirit of freedom, which is also the spirit of Linux.
> >
> >Another thing I can't agree, is the way of your debate.  Where is this
> >leading?  The article is informative and useful but your debate is not.
> >Sorry to say so but this is my freedom to express my feeling.  : )
> >
> >Regards,
> >
> >Amy
> 
> _______________________________________________
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