THE main IRC channel was very busy yesterday (probably busiest in years) because of conversations about ethics. Apparently, according to some, pointing out the hypocrisy of corporations (IBM in particular^*) which demean the Free software community isn't wise. We're supposed to just take it and ignore the hypocrisy. The problem is, the latest wave of shaming tactics seems to revolve around words, not even underlying behaviour. It's getting shallower and shallower over time. Now we're barely allowed to even speak (expression diluted and having its meaning/messages watered down). Longtime contributors are being canceled.

"If the Free software movement gives up on its free speech (of course it's all being disguised as a matter of racism so as to discourage opposition), then we cannot have freedom and we cannot stand up against corporate attacks, which mostly involve takeovers and infiltrations..."Hours ago PCLinuxOS Magazine published its latest edition in which it said: "Sooooooo ... where does all of this end? What about all of the curse words that are dispersed throughout the kernel code? Won't some puritanical sort of person take offense to the appearance of those "offensive" words?

"Gauging by the comments to the article on The Register (and elsewhere across the internet), the changes are not being well received by Linux aficionados. There is, to say the least, a LOT of backlash against the forthcoming changes, and most of it centers around the types of questions I asked in the previous paragraph."

If the Free software movement gives up on its free speech (of course it's all being disguised as a matter of racism so as to discourage opposition), then we cannot have freedom and we cannot stand up against corporate attacks, which mostly involve takeovers and infiltrations (see what happened to the Linux Foundation in recent years). ⬆ _____ ^* Perhaps predictably, our recent articles about IBM 'provoked' some people who decided to go ad hominem against the messenger (myself), not refuting any of the underlying substance or facts. Red Hat employees are coming to grips with the new boss (the article about layoffs was read nearly 150,000 times this week) and they don't like it.