On Wed, Dec 17, 2003 at 08:53:18AM -0800, Nunya wrote: > On Wed, Dec 17, 2003 at 09:31:17AM -0700, Joel Baker wrote: > > > > Somehow, I don't think Branden will mind being told his dislike of > > "parochial religious fundamentalists" is showing. I suspect he'd be proud > > of it. But you'll see for yourself, soon enough. > > I don't believe in magical beings. I *do* believe some humans > intentionally set out to hurt other humans. Branden's beliefs and > sneering disdain for some of his fellow humans is quite clear. (Note: > your response was measured and even).
That, I'm afraid, is between you and him. I certainly disagree with him on some topics, and I certainly think there are many times when he could be more tactful if he wished to be, but I'm unwilling to say that he necessarily *should* be - though there are times (not really including right now, mostly) that I can say his choices have had consequences I had to deal with, and that I might wish he'd choose differently. :) > Please explain to me the relevance of these names without the specific > intent of discomforting people. The *intent* is clear. If you can > explain for, historical, literary, philosophical reasons, I will > enthusiastically support those names. If it's just because "let's piss > off the Christians", then I say, pick something else. The thought goes something like this: "Well, the mascot of ALL the BSD derivatives is a daemon, in various forms" (and, I will note, they are quite adament about it *not* being a demon, which is why the form is *always* a cartoony/stylized form) "A daemon is a greek concept for a being which bridges the mortal and the divine" (this is the semi-official reason for calling them daemons, in Unix) "Greek daemons do not appear to have individual names" "The Christian concept of a demon is a corruption (as it were) of the Greek concept of daemon" "There is an extensive catalog of Christian demon names to pick from" Note that while I don't (deeply) care about offending people with a strong religious belief, since I *personally* find most of those beliefs quite offensive in return, I *do* consider it polite to consider not using the demonic names entirely because the BSD folks have a long and avowed wish to *not* be associated with such, for purely practical reasons that affect them as much as (and probably more than) they affect us. > Actually I think you *should* pick those names. I'd love to see the > resulting carnage :-) Eh. My inbox would tell you it just isn't that interesting. Most of the religious screeds I get aren't all that coherent, or even entertaining forms of incoherent ranting. Half the time I have trouble telling that they're written in English (religious fanatics - the one group that seems more incapable of mastering spelling and grammar than the speakers of 'Leet).. -- Joel Baker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ,''`. Debian GNU/NetBSD(i386) porter : :' : `. `' `-
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