On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 11:32 AM, Joakim Signal <tut_at_lysator.liu.se> wrote:
> On Mon, 30 Aug 2010, at 10:37, Per Andersson wrote:
>
>> On Sun, Aug 29, 2010 at 9:32 PM, Andreas Hedström <ahedstrom_at_gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> In the thread with topic: "Re: apt-get telefon (N900)" the following
>>> statements was recently posted:
>>>
>>>>> Yes, a life without Emacs and Perl is like a life without a girlfriend
>>>>> (the other-one than Eliza).
>
> I don't like jokes that are degrading to women (that joke wasn't though).
No, it was not degrading, but as I said: it assumes that the audience consists
of the white male heterosexual nerd stereotype.
> But the notion that we must never exclude or offend anyone gets absurd when
> driven too far.
>
> I'm getting the bad old "Won't someone _please_ think of the children!?"
> feeling here:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children's_interests_(reasoning)#In_popular_media
I think it is absurd to argue that we should have the ability to make offensive
jokes or comments in a free software interest group. I believe that we are
intelligent enough to invent clever and intelligent remarks that does not
offend. If not, I fear for our continued survival...
Right now it is a violent understatement that we are *heavily* skewed towards
the white male heterosexual nerd stereotype. If we wan't a group that is more
mixed, we have to change something. Why should our ways of communicate be
excluded from change?
How do you suggest we bring more people who aren't the arch stereotype to the
group then? How do we involve and inspire non-tech-savvy users of free software
to join? The only type of comments I hear are: "I don't want to change!", "Can't
we joke about anything?!" I hear little constructive discussion about how our
behaviour actually makes newcomers feel.
> P.S. Here are some nerdy comics that are offensive and excluding, so that we
> can bring balance to The Force, and perhaps even have a laugh:
>
> http://www.geekherocomic.com/2008/09/03/not-humans/
> http://www.geekherocomic.com/comics-highres/2009-01-30-boris.png
This is exactly the kind of arch stereotype image of the
hacker/free software/geek/nerd movement that I think is bad for our group
constitution, and it probably scares people away or make them laugh at us, or
both. I myself have issues with thinking that I don't know enough to participate
in free software, probably because of this level of elite thinking within the
community.
If we want free software to be universal we have to treat the intended audience
as such: universal.
-- Per _______________________________________________ http://foss-sthlm.haxx.se/ http://cool.haxx.se/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/foss-sthlmReceived on 2010-08-30
