Re: [Nolug] Distro suggestions

Ron Johnson <ron.l.johnson@cox.net> writes:

> Well, if you're not a drone, "socialist" has a pretty specific
> meaning (try 'dict socialist'). Same with "free enterprise".

$ dict socialist
[...]
     One who advocates or practices the doctrines of socialism.
[...]

    # That didn't help much.
$ dict socialism
[...]
    a political theory advocating state ownership of industry
[...]

Your original statement was:

> Or, are you a socialist (it's a free country*, after all), and
> dislike free enterprise?

Then, if I were a socialist, wouldn't I dislike Debian since it wasn't
owned by the state (and, in fact, it's social compact seems to bar
state ownership)? Debian is a product of free enterprise, after all.

$ dict 'free enterprise'

       n : an economy that relies chiefly on market forces to allocate
           goods and resources and to determine prices [syn: {market
           economy}, {laissez-faire economy}] [ant: {non-market
           economy}]

Debian fits the bill since work for its development (a finite
resource) is allocated by market forces.

Back to this last email:

> You are absolutely right when you say that "extreme liberal" is has
> a loaded context (which is why I didn't use it).

Yes, you did. I didn't quote it in my response. Here is the full quote:

> Or, are you a socialist (it's a free country*, after all), and
> dislike free enterprise?
>
> You've installed vrms, right?
>
> * I've worked with 2 extreme liberals who had Top Secret clearance
> during the Reagan/Bush1 years, working in the DoD.

Check out the Socialism FAQ
(http://home.vicnet.net.au/~dmcm/Articles/FAQ.htm). Are they a bunch
of drones? Who knows?

As for myself, I'm neither a socialist nor do I "dislike" free
enterprise.

I believe in the equal distribution of goods (which puts me close to
socialism) but don't believe in using the coercive force of government
to accomplish that goal.

Also, I own and am currently solely supported by my own business as a
consultant (so I have some appreciate for free enterprise), but I'm
pretty far from being a conservative advocate of capitalism.

Finally, I'm not an idealist, so feel free to use Debian (or not) for
your own reasons. I happen to have an appreciation for the freedoms
that the GPL is meant to guarantee. Most people don't, though, so
I'm not surprised that they use other OSes like MS Windows,

And, no, I don't have vrms installed, but I may install it as a
curiosity.

Confused yet? ;-)

Mark.

-- 
Peace is only better than war if peace isn't hell, too.
    -- Walker Percy, "The Second Coming"
___________________
Nolug mailing list
nolug@nolug.org