[plug] [OT] defense, democracy and Linux (was: Columbia)

[Leon Brooks]

On Sunday 02 February 2003 07:15 pm, Bret Busby wrote:
> On Sun, 2 Feb 2003, Alex Polglaze wrote:
>> What about all the allied lives that were saved by this action.

> So, genocide and war crimes are aceptable, if they save a few lives.

Defending yourself is acceptable. End of story.

> It's obvious you have no conscience.

Hey, settle down! More dried frog pills! Alex does indeed have a conscience, 
but do you? Or are you just on a self-righteousness jag?

>> The unfortunate price of a democracy is that we have to put up with this
>> drivel.

Not quite. Bret has the right to speak it, you have the right to ignore it 
(there are procmail recipes around for this specific purpose), or not be 
there at the time, or refute it, or laugh at it. Many options.

> Nothing to do with democracy.

Absolutely everything to do with a democracy. No freedom of speech effectively 
means no democracy. That's one of the distinguishing marks of Linux 
(whoo-hoo, we dealt a glancing blow to the list topic!) and a reason of its 
unstoppable success.

What we have in both Oz and USA is not a democracy, it's a republic. The Linux 
kernel is actually closer to a democracy, benevolent dictator 
notwithstanding, than the system we live under.

Cheers; Leon