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Republicans are Luddites

March 1st 2007 00:37
In their blind hate our good friend the neo-conservatives want to stop the distribution of Linux. While I understand she isn’t speaking on behalf of all republicans I am more or less inclined to assume she does, given Republicans have made crazier claims in the past.

So Tristan, Linux is the axis of evil, it is home to many a communist ideals such as working for free to distribute something to the entire planet?

I quoteth her wisdom

Not so long ago STR and I drew a great deal of fire from aggressive Linux using zealots for the “crime” of pointing out that using Linux is contrary to the very spirit of American free enterprise. Such was the weight of this criticism that I was forced to re-examine my claims. Could I have got it wrong? Could over a thousand comments be incorrect?


No, we were not wrong - just as the Linux using trolls who like to bully sensible family-oriented conservative groups like ShelleyTheRepublican were trying to convince us that Linux is as American as Apple-Pie, it’s founder and long-time enemy of free-enterprise was busy selling Linux to known terrorists and members of what our President calls the Axis of Evil..

Yes, ‘American’ industry, well believe it or not Linux is a world wide hobby, not an industry, though it has made great benefits for industries. I very much doubt Linux is very much American, Linux is a global enterprise, it doesn’t belong to any one group, anyone can open it up, tear it apart, and re-sell it. Of course such generosity hardly encases family ideals and does go against American enterprise.

Lets see what else our oh-so loving neo-conservative has to say


RMS as he likes to be known to his hacker friends has convinced Cuba, one of the most evil nations of the entire world to adopt Linux as it’s official operating system. Henceforth the communist party which controls all aspects of life in this despotic regime of pure evil has made it illegal to buy the American made Microsoft Windows.

I guess she doesn’t realise that most people don’t buy the ‘American’ Microsoft Windows but opt to copy them and use them illegally. If anything Linux helps stamp out piracy in Cuba.

Cubans who are denied freedom of choice by the repressive Marxist government are no longer allowed to buy Windows, because according to Fidel Castro, it is a “product of our imperialist oppressor”. Why does Castro hate America? Why does he forbid Cubans from importing great American products like Windows Vista?

OH why oh why doesn’t he let them import Windows Vista, such a great American product? Well first and foremost it is a bloody expensive product, I doubt very many Cubans could afford your oh so great product. It also recquires a really powerful PC to run it, which most Cubans probably don’t own. What else? Well the fact Cubans wouldn’t buy their Microsoft product so much so they’d, you know, copy it illegally probably has a lot to do with your ‘great American’ product.

Please do not take my word for it, instead read what Rob Enderle, principal analyst of the Enderle group has to say about this matter. This is from Rob’s column at ITBusinessEdge, one of the most highly trusted sources of Information Technology news, and one that I personally rely on to stay ahead of the pack:

Yes, lets

Linux, which isn’t really a product in my mind, as it co-defines the Open Source movement, is a brand. This brand has attributes that have been created over time and generally, at least for those that use it, represents something positive.
For some it represents the freedom to look at and mess with code, for others it represents “free” as in free beer, and for some it represents a strong weapon against capitalism, particularly with regard to software. I’m sure we could add some additional attributes, but the one that concerns me is this new concept that it is anti-American.

Does ‘screw neo-con’ America come to mind here? Seriously, is it anti-American for people to use legally free software? Should it, as such, be un-Australian too now? Just what is anti-American? Something that despite having the potential to helping millions sand millions of people should not be touched because it might help a bunch of communists from needing to pirate Windows Vista?

So what could turn Rob from a passionate Linux advocate three years ago into one of it’s most vocal critics? Like most of our readers, Rob is proud to be an American, and nothing is as ugly as the blind-prejudice of Anti-Americanism. He continues:
Can you imagine the NSA IT manager trying to get funding for a Linux based project right now? We are dropping into an extended election where the war in Iraq, terrorism, and nationalism are likely to be major battlegrounds. On the economic front, China remains a huge concern and in many battles it too is likely to come up, particularly as these battles are fought in areas where unions are strong.

Anti-Americanism? Nice, lets all just jump on the ‘we hate America’, it is increasingly becoming easier to hate America isn’t it? Now you just have to use Linux and you hate America, you support the enemy and worst of all you don’t buy Windows Vista, a great American product.

What this guy is essentially claiming is that americans should stop working on Linux and can it completely because it poses several risks, not the least of which from China, as such Linux should not be developed at all to keep the Chinese from a free operating system and forced into buying the great American product Windows Vista.

Naturally Linux is not American, Linux is global, I’d hazard to say the rest of planet Earth works more on Linux than North America. As such stopping work on Linux will give the enemy (i.e. China) a massive advantage in terms of free software while their capitalistic enemies will still be stuck with Microsoft products. Oh no!

If I’m running against an incumbent (who probably has no clue about software at all) and I know some organization under them deployed Linux and that it is being positioned as anti-U.S., might I not use that in the election? “Ladies and gentlemen I promise that under my administration we will not implement products like Linux that put the nation at risk, which contribute critical technology to the terrorists, and embolden our enemies.

How does Linux embolden your enemies? Are they suddenly a bunch of crazy nut case programmers?

Ok, and back to Tristan

What a great election winning strategy. We at STR.com note with some dismay that Hillary Clinton, Al Gore and Barak Obama all have campaign sites which run on Linux. Could they display their utter contempt and loathing for America with any greater clarity than their choice of computer program? What’s so wrong with buying American? Windows Vista is the most technically advanced operating system ever built so why would Hillary Clinton prefer to use a product made by Eastern-European communists?

Since when was Linux developed by communists? It is a free operating system developed by the collective hobbyist and some professional programmers of planet Earth. Also I would like to know how she knows Vista is technologically more advanced? Given Linux is the preferred operating system on servers across the globe I’d hazard to say you’d be at a disadvantage using Windows. Also should I mention the irony that the US Military uses Linux?

Anti-freedom activist and failed presidential candidate Albert Gore Jr claims to have invented the entire Internet, however in a display of arrogance and ignorance he has chosen to build his eco-lie website on a Linux web-server. Why does Al Gore hate America?

They hate Al-Gore? You could have told them that when they gave him an academy award for best propaganda movie made by corrupt liberals.

And if Rob Enderlie were correct, we would expect that the Pro-linuxists have begun exporting their anti-American philosophy and software to all of Democracy’s remaining enemies. As you might expect RMS has been selling his Linux software to communist governments like Venezuela and islamofascist rogue-states like Iran. As a result of this campaigning Iran now has a “LUG”, a forum for pro-linux activism. Would they have achieved this if they had not first been provided with American technology to copy? Should we be comfortable that stolen American trade-secrets which have been put into Linux are now in our enemies hands?

Selling? Well that’s probably a lie, you can get free distributions of Linux easily. Trade secret’s? Well last I checked Linux had no trade secret’s, least of all American trade secret’s, I guess Tristan is so blinded by her hate of Linux that she forgets America is not the only country working on developing it.

The next part cracks me up, hilarious stuff

These Cubans may appear harmless, but will that still be the case now that they have access to the stolen Linux technology? The USA once almost had to bomb the heck out of this trouble-making rogue-state, are they driving us to war once again? We Americans pray for peace every day, but unprovoked aggression cannot be ignored.

First and foremost they look like peasants, not cutting edge programmers in geeky outfits. Second of all, Linux cannot as a rule be stolen given it is a free product. As of writing there hasn’t been a single successful (or even attempted I think) lawsuit against Linux for stealing industry secret’s from other software companies. As it stands Linux is free in every way possible.

Let me spell this out to you: We are at war with an axis of evil who may already be using this stolen technology to help build the atomic weapons with which the Islamofascists hope will one day be used to kill your children. Please support the one American party who has not bought into the lie of Linux: The Republicans. Your votes and donations will help keep America and the world free of the triple threats of Communism, Islamofascism and Linux

Are we really? How will stopping Linux from development keep the world free? Last I checked Linux was free and Windows wasn’t. Once again, what purchase and what stolen technology? Making atomic weapons is relatively easy, they are extremely crude, their simplest designs are in high school physics text books for crying out loud!


To think I thought our resident neo-cons were over the top and crazy.
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Comments
9 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Cibbuano

March 1st 2007 04:24
that's so over-the-top insanely ignorant and hateful that I suspect it's a joke. No one could be THAT right-wing, right?


Comment by Francis

March 1st 2007 06:18
Air is free- and people in the evil communist America-hating countries breathe air, so logically...

Comment by Ahmed

March 1st 2007 06:22
It actually is a joke, Shelley the Republican is a joke blog. Can't believe i was suckered like that

Comment by Damo

March 1st 2007 09:40
What ever they are on has to be illegal and fun.
I suspect that they have been drinking the bong water.
Laughed all the way through.

BTW
Hadn't they heard of FreeBSD Unix.
No self respected server maker would use anything less.

Comment by Ahmed

March 1st 2007 09:51
It's a joke site Damo, we both fell in for the trap

Just look at the rest of the blog: Really Long Link

No republicans that nuts.

Comment by Billy Bob

March 1st 2007 13:36
Keep laughing, liberal. It's gonna be real funny when the commies and terrorists take over America.

Comment by Ahmed

March 1st 2007 13:46

Comment by Francis

March 1st 2007 21:25
Don't feel too badly- the nature of zealots is to go so ridiculously over that top that it's not impossible that something like this could have been real. I've seen people- hell, I'm related to people- who've gone much farther than this for serious.

I can remember a half-doaen times when I was practicing the parodic arts myself, and cranked my sarcasm upto 11... and some people still thought it was for real.

Comment by JoshZ

March 9th 2007 11:15
Hmmm, the more words they use, the less brain cells they have.

JZ

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