Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

ESR and guns -- what's the big deal?

Author:Seth Gordon
Posted:8/22/2000; 7:24:16 AM
Topic:ESR and guns -- what's the big deal?
Msg #:19916
Prev/Next:19915 / 19917

Eight to ten years ago, I spent a lot of time on the Usenet political groups. (If I had spent as much time back then learning C programming, I'd spend more time writing open-source software than pontificating about it, but old habits die hard. :-) Eric S. Raymond was one of my nemeses on those groups. Never mind guns. ESR is a staunch anarcho-libertarian, and believes that nobody has the right to take his private property or interfere with his freedom of contract for any purpose.

I thought, and still do think, that ESR's political ideas are meshuggah. However, compared with most other libertarians who infest the Net, he has thought about those ideas in some depth, and is articulate and reasonable in defending and expounding on them.

Furthermore, observing ESR's writings on open-source matters, I'm impressed that in general, he has not turned his prominence as an open-source spokesman into a hobbyhorse for his other political ideas.

The .sig in his email usually has some pro-gun quote, but that sentiment is restricted to the .sig. When the open-source movement got an award from Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, ESR's acceptance speech certainly laid out his view of what "social responsibility" means -- but since RMS, Larry Wall, and Brian Behlendorf were also invited to give speeches, I think the political diversity of the movement was adequately represented there. ESR's personal home page contains various political writings and links -- but that's his personal home page.

As a confirmed pinko who's sympathetic to the open-source movement, I think ESR is doing a damn good job, and I don't feel threatened by his political views.

When people rumble about ESR and guns and how this reflects badly on the open-source movement, are they referring to the things I mentioned above? Or is he spouting politics on open-source platforms more often than I have noticed?

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