*BSD News Article 3095


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From: tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd
Subject: Re: AT&T vs. BSDI --> 4.3BSD-NET2 distribution requires AT&T license!!!
Message-ID: <1992Aug5.053433.8737@panix.com>
Date: 5 Aug 92 05:34:33 GMT
References: <EPHRAIM.92Jul31124831@fysas.fys.ruu.nl> <1992Aug01.141903.20814@NeoSoft.com> <5243@shum.huji.ac.il>
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix & Internet, NYC
Lines: 70

In article <5243@shum.huji.ac.il> allon@batata.huji.ac.il (Allon Herman) writes:
>Folks,
>	I'm sorry that I have to raise this issue at all and especially on this

You don't.  Of course, this never keeps people like you from doing so.

>list. I'm not really going to write about AT&T vs. BSDI etc. at all. Anyway to get
>to my point, Karl Lehenbauer signed article 3054 with a slogan of Adolph Hitler:
>"What luck for rulers that men do not think".

Damn good quote.  Of course, Hitler seems to have done his best to be a rather
quotable guy, among other, more reprehensible pursuits.  This one is both
perceptive (though not exactly original) and highly concise.

>
>	First Mr. Lehenbauer, please keep in mind that the person who wrote that
>slogan did not only write it, he exploited it to the most disastrous extent that
>anybody has ever done in the *ENTIRE* histrory of mankind.

To be precise:  Hitler did _not_ exploit that particular "slogan", which by
my definition of "slogan", at least, is not such, but rather exploited the
unfortunate truth which it so aptly points out.  The words in question are in
no way reduced in value.

>
>	I also suggest that you should think next time who are the potential
>readers of the material you submit to the net and wheather you might just
>accidently offend them. Furthermore there are saying by people who are

Bullshit.  If you are offended by what I say, and it was clearly not intended
to offend, I don't think _anyone_ is at fault.  If you are offended by what I
say, and appear to have gone out of your way to be so, I think _you_ are at
fault.

>controversial and for the sanity of all of us keep in mind that
>comp.unix.bsd is here to let us discuss bsd issues and there are several other

You seem to miss your own point here!  You're picking on one line from an 
article which _was_ about "bsd issues".  I've had some fairly controversial sig
quotes in the past -- did you pick on me?  Why not?  Of course, you've just
written a whole _article_ which is off the subject, entirely.  Of course, so
am I...

>list that are more proper for such saying and the debate over them.
>
>	One last word about the connection of that saying to the AT&T vs. BSDI
>debate, AT&T are *not* the rulers and BSDI are *not* the people. This debate is
>between two companies that one of their goal is to gain profits where the first
>believs that the latter is exploiting its intelectual property. If you *must*
>use a slogan please use one that is fit for the issue being discussed!

I _hate_ to indulge in grammatical nit-picking, but this is just too much. 
Please consider that if you proof-read your articles, you might not only improve
their grammatical coherence but also their intellectual coherence.  The first
complaint is applicable to the paragraph above, while the second refers to the
other parts of your article.

>	Shame on you for your lack of sesitivity to other peoples feelings!

Shame on you for your knee-jerk response to a group of words, based not even
upon your perception of the _value_ of those words, which is in any case largely
a personal judgement, but upon your opinion of their originator.  It strikes
me that people who, like yourself, consider the speaker rather than the speech,
are in large part what the quote in question refers to.

-- 
Thor Lancelot Simon	 tls@panix.COM
  "Oh, you have wounded me!  I have very few prejudices, actually.  The
biggest problem is that I am intolerant of fools.  That is why I have
such a low tolerance level for Libertarians."  -- Jim McMaster