I'm still thinking about what happened yesterday.
I just want to clarify two things and then I'll stop these annoying posts.
First. I *really* agree with you Ron (and Paul, and Jay) about the
importance of freedom of speech.
And it's obvious that I must respect this freedom even when somebody
says something that I disagree with.
I'm still undecided if is right or wrong to ban offensive language by
somebody who is trying to build a community of likeminded people.
If you invite me at your home, and I start insulting you and your family
with racist and sexist words I don't thing you would invite me again. In
the same way anybody can start his/her own web community and apply the
rules he/she want.
In one of my previous messages I even said that I don't see the need of
such community, and that having your own web space gives you more
freedom anyway.
Probably, I misunderstood your complaints. I thought that you were
saying that you feel being limited by joining a website that bans
offensive languange and dangerous statements made by ignorant people
(and to me somebody who is racist in 2006 is way more ignorant than the
jamendo crew). If this is true, I still respect you because I see that
you're defending something I believe in too.
Just consider that racism is growing worldwide. And that this is a
*real* danger for any kind of freedom.
What I'm trying to say is that I believe that their (the jamendo crew)
concerns about this could be sincere and positive, even if there's a
contraddiction with the wider idea of freedom we both have.
Second. If I could turn back time (as Cher would have said) I wouldn't
have used that phrase about loosing my calm. It has been just my
impulsiveness and my not so good (ok bad) english writing skills. I'm
trying to learn this language by myself to interact with more likeminded
people than those I may find here in Italy. To be part of the hacker
community.
But I've felt offended by your words as well. And *this* is what really
triggered my impulsiveness. You offended me as an inhabitant of an
european country. We can discuss about if there's really freedom of
speech in the United States (vs France) for the rest of our life but I
would have liked to keep these aspects away from a list like this.
Otherwise, you should call it 'Linux Audio American Users' or 'Linux
Audio Land of The Freedom Users'. In this case I would maybe kiss your
ass and leave.
Cheers,
c.
--
www.cesaremarilungo.com