OT: Re: [ale] linux recommendations

[Jim Philips]

On Thursday 23 December 2004 08:29 pm, Geoffrey wrote:
> Jim Philips wrote:
> > On Thursday 23 December 2004 09:43 am, Geoffrey wrote:
> >>james at sumners.ath.cx wrote:
> >>>None of which matters to people who can read, do research, and think
> >>>cognitively.
> >>
> >>You understand my point.
> >
> > Perceptions ought to be based on reality. The phrase "hates America" gets
> > thrown around in reference to anybody who disagrees with American
> > policies. From what I can see at ubuntu.org, there is disagreement and
> > criticism of some policies of the US government. To disagree and to
> > criticize is not the same as hating. At least not the last time I
> > checked.
>
> Well I have some real problems with some of their positions, such as:
>
> "The campaign's objective is to spark off a process leading to the
> reform of the system of international institutions with the
> participation of all world actors and moving towards a system of global
> democratic governance that can help us to build a better world."
>
> Global democratic governance?  Sounds a lot like 'give up your
> sovereignty.'

Well, my goal isn't to start another political thread on the list. That's 
always a losing proposition. You disagree with Ubuntu. Fine. You know why. 
Fine. Let's just not pretend that anybody who criticizes this or that 
official position of the US government "hates America". That phrase doesn't 
shed any light and it uses the word "hate" in a way that makes it 
meaningless. The "hates America" thing is just as bad as some liberal leaping 
to the conclusion that anybody who disagrees with them is a "fascist".  I 
know we're conditioned by TV and radio to turn every disagreement into a 
slugfest. But in real life, in discourse with real people, it's best not to 
get into that style of debate.

Politics *is* off-topic for this list. But we're all political animals, so 
it's going to come up anyway. When it does, we shouldn't go straight to 
inflammatory terms.