[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Amendment to RMS/FSF GR: Option 5




On 4/2/21 19:09, Craig Sanders wrote:
On Fri, Apr 02, 2021 at 06:18:51PM +0200, Zlatan Todoric wrote:
[...] still not good enough to throw tantrums
around with "witch-hunt". Women in past were burnt alive on stakes, so stop
with extreme rhetoric when some expresses that they had it enough with
sexist behavior.
Witch-hunt is a reference to McCarthyism. and, of course, Arthur Miller's
play, The Crucible.
Witch-hunt is also used a lot by previous occupant of White House, so I will say it is more influenced by that lately.

I'll assume you're both very young and not a native speaker of English,
but "witch-hunt" has been a common idiomatic term for what is happening to
Stallman and the FSF board since at least the 1950s, and probably a lot longer
for reasons that should be obvious.

Yes, lets use that I am not native English speaker and drown the conversation with some pointless pedantic approaches now and bunch of words.

While I am not English native, I am Serbian native and we have a saying for this:

Претакање из шупљег у празно.

Which would mean something like "you say a lot but actually nothing".


According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, it was 1919:

https://www.etymonline.com/word/witch%20hunt

     1853 in the literal sense (witch-hunting is from 1630s), from witch (n.)
     + hunt (n.). The extended sense is attested from 1919, American English,
     later re-popularized in reaction to Cold War anti-Communism.

         Senator [Lee S.] Overman. What do you mean by witch hunt?

         Mr. [Raymond] Robins. I mean this, Senator. You are familiar with the
         old witch-hunt attitude, that when people get frightened at things
         and see bogies, then they get out witch proclamations, and mob action
         and all kinds of hysteria takes place. ["Bolshevik Propaganda,"
         U.S. Senate subcommittee hearings, 1919]
So never used for anything good and except the real historical witch-hunting, others are just to spew lies, aggression toward some people or groups. In all those instances, there was a real issue of people getting hurt by it - I see no connection with RMS, who's sexist behavior hurt others and he got called out. Wow, such witch-hunting.


In short, it's a purge of political or other "undesirables". usually with a
rampaging mob hyped-up and eager for a taste of blood(*).


(*) just to be clear, not necessarily literal blood. that's also an idiomatic
phrase. most of the time.

I think we should focus away from US-centric way of thinking and dealing with global issues.

Z

Attachment: OpenPGP_0x2E5C20BB37933BFD.asc
Description: application/pgp-keys

Attachment: OpenPGP_signature
Description: OpenPGP digital signature


Reply to: