who wrote this

[Chad Perrin]

On Mon, Nov 26, 2007 at 10:14:30PM -0800, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:
> 
> For example, a famous quote of Hitler's is:
> 
> "I do not see why man should not be just as cruel as nature."

That raises an interesting point:

There are quotes that, taken out of context, might be seen as
"offensive".  In many cases, the "in context" presentation that makes the
inoffensive are those that involve attributing them to the monsters who
uttered the words in the first place.  Let's take two hypothetical
examples . . .

  1. "I do not see why man should not be just as cruel as nature."
     - Anonymous

  2. "I do not see why man should not be just as cruel as nature."
     - Adolf Hitler

Frankly, I find the latter to be more valuable, because it says something
about the psychology of a genocidal leader of men.  The former might be
considered offensive by some, because it's a statement whose implications
in and of itself are disturbing when taken as it is presented without
context -- as a maxim to live by.  I'd rather see example 2 than example
1, personally.  If I saw the Hitler-attributed version come up in a
fortune, it would be thought-provoking.  If I saw the unattributed
version (and didn't know Hitler said it), I would think "What the hell is
this doing here?"


> 
> Fundamentally, you have to be educated to understand it.  FreeBSD
> is first and formost, for the educated computer user.

That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

-- 
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
Ben Franklin: "As we enjoy great Advantages from the Inventions of others
we should be glad of an Opportunity to serve others by any Invention of
ours, and this we should do freely and generously."