Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 08:38:52 -0400 (EDT) From: Thomas Good <tomg@nrnet.org> To: Doug <Doug@gorean.org> Cc: Gary Kline <kline@tera.com>, Dutch Collins <dutch@charm.net>, Mitch Collinsworth <mkc@Graphics.Cornell.EDU>, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Question about the mascot Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.96.990811082220.27501A-100000@mailhost.nrnet.org> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9908101656020.60580-100000@dt011n65.san.rr.com>
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On Tue, 10 Aug 1999, Doug wrote:
> > > argh. Does the Bell Curve invert when the population reaches a certain
> > > point.
> >
> >
> > That, or something similar!
>
> If it makes you feel better you can go ahead and belittle people
> who are put off by it. Knock yourself out. But the fact is, the
> demon/daemon mascot puts some people off. From a marketing standpoint a
> logo that makes X% of your target market uncomfortable (where X is
> actually, most everyone who doesn't already know what *bsd is) is bad for
> business. It doestn't matter WHY it's bad for business, or how morally
> superior you feel because you are above those considerations, it IS bad
> for business.
If you don't make *some* people uncomfortable you *are* doing something
wrong. Nothing worth while has ever been accepted with open arms...
People laughed at Linux and now Microsoft claims it makes them nervous.
Whether this is a ploy or not (for the JOD suit) Linux is no longer a
laughing matter. And I'm very pleased that it makes Gates nervous.
I hope it impacts on his bottom line. I find the idea that access to
information should be based on income more threatening than a cartoon
daemon.
If you don't like the daemon don't use it - no one forces you to like
the mascot. I know lots of folks who resent the Cleveland Indians mascot
(or the Washington Redskins) yet they still like baseball (or American
football).
But there is a larger issue. I mentioned form versus content. That is
the real issue. Why does a daemon (which is a background process that
runs independently of a terminal, not an incarnation of pure evil)
make some people nervous when they have no problem wearing a Washington
Redskins hat? Is it that the *idea* of a mythological devil and all of
the dangers it *hints* at is more menacing than the reality of evil?
Maybe so - this was the thesis (that evil is banal) so eloquently argued
by Hannah Arendt in her account of the Eichmann trial.
Personally, I find people who want to restrict others' freedom of expression
far more evil than people who draw cartoon daemons. And the idea that
they do this in the name of `morality' is particularly disturbing. There
are ample historical precedents which clearly delineate the end result of
this sort of `morality'. Ex post facto it is generally termed intolerance.
Doug
> --
> On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only
> nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter
> what it does.
> -- Will Rogers
`Democracy is three wolves and a sheep discussing what's for dinner.'
- D'Arcy Cain
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