[Linux-aus] Something to stop and think about

[Leon Brooks <leon@cyberknights.com.au>]

Read the whole letter at:

    http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050407113517663

Pamela Jones speaking:

    Sometimes when you are a public figure, people think you have no
    feelings, that they can say whatever they wish, and you just
    have to endure it. And when you had no intention of becoming a
    public figure, unlike Madonna who craved it, but instead end up
    willy nilly thrust into the public eye due to a lawsuit or some
    other event beyond your control, the sheer cruelty with which
    some pick you apart and assume the worst of your motives and
    goals is a real shock. I've experienced it myself to some degree,
    so I don't have to just imagine it. Something like that happened
    to Val Kreidel.

Brent Noorda speaking:

    When the information provided by analysts like Rob Enderle and
    Laura DiDio weren't incorrect, their statements represented
    speculation more fitting to a daytime soap opera than to the
    business section of a newspaper. [...]

    The inaccuracies and accusations hurt. In recent months there
    have been many such speculative accusations in newspapers and
    journals, and especially on the internet. In particular these
    accusations have centered on my sister, Val Kreidel, and they
    have caused immeasurable pain. Val did nothing more nor less
    than to provide emotional support to my parents after they came
    to believe that the results of their positive lifetime legacy,
    meant to provide benefit to the many hardworking people of Utah
    valley, were being misappropriated for the benefit of just a
    few self-serving individuals. [...]

    For some reason, Val was singled out and labeled as a villain,
    and so Val suffered the relentless hammering of opposing lawyers
    for months. Val seemed unable to stop herself from reading the
    fantastic fictions of analysts in the papers, and the idle
    speculations of unknown accusers on the internet. The onslaught
    was too much.

    Why did the lawsuits and slanderous analysts and anonymous
    internet posters pick on Val Kreidel in making their accusations
    of greed and ulterior motives? They could as well have chosen me,
    or any of my siblings, or any friend assisting my parents.
    Indeed, in this suit-happy society they could have chosen to
    direct their hurtful scorn at any person who tries to help
    another. Why must they assume the worst of motivations?

My answer is: they're almost certainly assuming that their own motivations 
apply to everybody else. Something to think about when you next have to deal 
with one of these "randoms". The named journalists used the same tactics and 
innuendo against Val Kreidel as they use against Linux and FOSS in general.

We're used to fighting data with data, lies with truth, bugs with patches. 
Against tactics like these, "mere" truth is insufficient, a passive response 
is not enough. IMESHO We need some process through which to make it clear 
that sociopathy like theirs is not acceptable, and will not be tolerated.

Cheers; Leon

-- 
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http://plug.linux.org.au/       Member, Perth Linux User Group
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http://linux.org.au/            Member, Linux Australia