Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Sun, 2 Jul 2000 11:11:09 +0930
From:      Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>
To:        Doug Barton <DougB@gorean.org>
Cc:        "David A. Medeiros" <damzz@mediaone.net>, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Offensive figures (wa: Why?)
Message-ID:  <20000702111109.N18213@wantadilla.lemis.com>
In-Reply-To: <395CCD89.4660E85D@gorean.org>
References:  <395B229A.D6CD5BD0@mediaone.net> <20000630183122.F7687@sydney.worldwide.lemis.com> <395CCD89.4660E85D@gorean.org>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Friday, 30 June 2000 at  9:40:41 -0700, Doug Barton wrote:
> Greg Lehey wrote:
>>
>> On Thursday, 29 June 2000 at  6:19:06 -0400, David A. Medeiros wrote:
>>> Why is a figure offensive in its caricturization used as the logo for
>>> FreeBSD? Thanks!
>>
>> Why, is a figure offensive in its caricturization used as the logo for
>> FreeBSD?  The logo represents a daemon.  What's offensive about that?
>
> 	Yes, that's the rationalization for it. But come on. The character is a
> visual pun. It's _clearly_ drawn to represent a devil/demon. The high
> minded "It's really a dAemon" business is just a convenient excuse. Why
> else would BSDi be passing out little devil horns at usenix?

Those were daemon horns.

> How would you draw a daemon, really?

Well, how do you draw a devil?  IIRC the current suggestion of horns
and tail go back to representations of the Greek God/Daemon Pan (from
which we get panic :-).  Christianity came up with the concept of
devils relatively late (it's not a Jewish concept), and they adapted
the image from daemons.  The real reason why the devils were
considered evil was because in pre-judaic times they competed with the
One True God.  Other people worshipped Baal, for example, but he
became Beelzebub in Christian tradition.

BTW, I brought a pair of daemon horns back from USENIX, and my wife
put them on.  The cat freaked out.

Greg
--
When replying to this message, please copy the original recipients.
For more information, see http://www.lemis.com/questions.html
Finger grog@lemis.com for PGP public key
See complete headers for address and phone numbers


To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20000702111109.N18213>