We seem to be scaring the non-free world of software

[Jeffrey Watts]

Nitpicks aside, your response doesn't seem to disagree with my statements as
a whole.

You are correct that democracy isn't the same thing as civil rights
("freedom" in the colloquial use).  However, for a democracy to survive
there must be civil rights - the absence of them will eventually lead to its
demise.  Hence why externally propped-up democracies tend to eventually
devolve and fail.  For a good example of an ongoing devolution of a
democracy one only needs to look at Russia.

My examples, however, were to illustrate that just because a country has
civil rights (America) doesn't mean it embraces Free Software, and just
because a country doesn't have those rights (China) doesn't mean it won't
embrace it.

The net conclusion being that while a country's attitudes towards civil
rights may be a contributing factor towards the adoption of Free Software
and the like, it's certainly not the primary factor.  My assertion is that
pragmatism is the primary factor.

Jeffrey.

On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 3:24 PM, Leo Mauler <webgiant at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> Strictly speaking, he said "those who cherish freedom" rather than
> "democratic movements."  You don't have to support democracy to cherish
> freedom.  In fact, democracy is all about trying to limit freedom in a
> reasonable manner (the whole "your right to swing your fist ends at my nose"
> argument).  Anarchy is the only movement which really "cherishes freedom."
>
> Of course, as Linux is largely supported by the GPL, another system of
> "limiting freedom", one could easily say that those who use Linux support
> limited suppression of freedom...
>
> > * China and most of the developing world uses Linux
> > extensively.  Many of those countries are ruled by
> > oppressive governments.
> >
> > Therefore, just because a group of people "cherish
> > freedom" doesn't mean that they use Free Software.
> > In converse, people who apparently hate freedom
> > (dem terrists hehe) often use Free Software.
>
> Terrorists and China's government certainly cherish freedom for
> *themselves*.
>
> In the end, ideologies are based largely on US vs. THEM: if you ain't US,
> youse THEM, and we only cherish freedom for US, not THEM.
>
>


-- 

"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from
oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that
will reach to himself." -- Thomas Paine
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