Re: Anarchism package
David Starner said:
> On Wed, Nov 15, 2000 at 11:35:50PM +0100, Ralf Treinen wrote:
> > I wasn't aware of the fact that the American Constitution and the Declaration
> > of Independence are packaged in Debian :-)
>
> They're in miscfiles.
I didn't know that. It would be consequent to remove them from main, then.
> > There are people who do not see the world the same way than you do. Considering
> > the whole earth population chances are that the people not sharing your
> > point of view (or mine, for that matter) are the majority.
>
> That would be the point of tolerance. 75% of the packages in Debian are of no
> use to me, including the Bible packages. The Bible packages are definitely
It was meant as reply to the person who tried to tell me that "Bible = America
= Freedom = Debian". My original argument was more about separation of
concerns.
It just means agreement on the fact that we all have different convictions,
and that these should not interfer with our choosen common goal. Lets
just keep stuff outside that has nothing to do with it.
Tolerance would require that we give same rights to all documents. We could,
for instance pack the Communist Manifesto. I repeat that IMHO this manifesto,
as the other documents that have been discussed, don't belong into Debian.
However, if we give room to one then tolerance would require that we give
equal rights to others.
> useful to some people, so as long as those people continue to maintain the
> package, it stays. The Bible packages are no more theistic propoganda than
> the GNAT compiler is 'strong-typing' propoganda (strong typing GOOD,
> C++ BAD . . . um, sorry about that) - they're just tools that someone uses
> to do what they want to do. It's better for us to be flexible than
> intolerant, because that way, we can all work together for a better Debian
> rather than work against each other.
I'm not sure whether everyvbody agrees that the Bible package is just
a tool. Besides, the analogy between philosophical and religious
convictions, and convictions about typing, the best editor or window
manager are a false analogy. Even the most ardent fan of vi (or emacs) would
not try to tell you how to lead your life or raise your children, or
start a war (not a flame war, a real one that kills people) on that.
The way of tolerance is to keep these themes outside. As the constitution
of some states explicitely separate religion and state.
-Ralf.
Reply to: