The struggles of being gay

[BlueVelvet]

As a gay man, I take positive representations where I can get them. Any time a same-gender relationship is portrayed in a positive but very real light benefits us all. The same can be said of GNU/Linux and hobby OSs, which, much like being gay, will likely remain minorities in the a world that seems married to proprietary software, and never really "come out of the closet" and be truly ready for acceptance the desktop. But anytime we can get some good press, it helps us all. I'm a big fan of Ubuntu (even over Mac!) and I'm proud that Dell has taken a stand and acknowledged that some of us are different, and thats ok.

[gravaera]

???

[BlueVelvet]

???

Huh?

[Darwin]

Interesting analogy...

[BlueVelvet]

As a gay man, I take positive representations where I can get them. Any time a same-gender relationship is portrayed in a positive but very real light benefits us all. The same can be said of GNU/Linux and hobby OSs, which, much like being gay, will likely remain minorities in the a world that seems married to proprietary software, and never really "come out of the closet" and be truly ready for acceptance the desktop. But anytime we can get some good press, it helps us all. I'm a big fan of Ubuntu (even over Mac!) and I'm proud that Dell has taken a stand and acknowledged that some of us are different, and thats ok.

You're not gay, since you prefer Ubuntu over Mac.

I believe, this little dump doesn't belong to this forum anyway. We're not to discuss religion or sexuality here. It's OSdev, baby.

All off topic discussions go here. Everything from the funny thing your cat did to your favorite tv shows. Non-programming computer questions are ok too.

Do you try to silence gay people in real life too?

[piranha]

As a gay man, I take positive representations where I can get them. Any time a same-gender relationship is portrayed in a positive but very real light benefits us all. The same can be said of GNU/Linux and hobby OSs, which, much like being gay, will likely remain minorities in the a world that seems married to proprietary software, and never really "come out of the closet" and be truly ready for acceptance the desktop. But anytime we can get some good press, it helps us all. I'm a big fan of Ubuntu (even over Mac!) and I'm proud that Dell has taken a stand and acknowledged that some of us are different, and thats ok.

You're not gay, since you prefer Ubuntu over Mac.

I believe, this little dump doesn't belong to this forum anyway. We're not to discuss religion or sexuality here. It's OSdev, baby.

All off topic discussions go here. Everything from the funny thing your cat did to your favorite tv shows. Non-programming computer questions are ok too.

Do you try to silence gay people in real life too?

The reason why its not a good idea to discuss sexuality here is because this place exists on the internet - meaning that its very likely to start angry arguments and various negative reactions. Then again, I can't speak to him being accepting or otherwise, so I don't know. However, your analogy of comparing open source to homosexuality doesn't make any sense.

-JL

[BlueVelvet]

All off topic discussions go here. Everything from the funny thing your cat did to your favorite tv shows. Non-programming computer questions are ok too.

Do you try to silence gay people in real life too?

The reason why its not a good idea to discuss sexuality here is because this place exists on the internet - meaning that its very likely to start angry arguments and various negative reactions. Then again, I can't speak to him being accepting or otherwise, so I don't know. However, your analogy of comparing open source to homosexuality doesn't make any sense.

-JL

It's unfortunate that you feel the need to imply homosexuals should hide who they are and not ever mention a vital part of their identity online--out of all places.

Why doesn't my analogy make sense? I'm not even sure a more direct comparison could be made, conceptually the concepts are identical.

[piranha]

All off topic discussions go here. Everything from the funny thing your cat did to your favorite tv shows. Non-programming computer questions are ok too.

Do you try to silence gay people in real life too?

The reason why its not a good idea to discuss sexuality here is because this place exists on the internet - meaning that its very likely to start angry arguments and various negative reactions. Then again, I can't speak to him being accepting or otherwise, so I don't know. However, your analogy of comparing open source to homosexuality doesn't make any sense.

-JL

It's unfortunate that you feel the need to imply homosexuals should hide who they are and not ever mention a vital part of their identity online--out of all places.

Why doesn't my analogy make sense? I'm not even sure a more direct comparison could be made, conceptually the concepts are identical.

I wasn't saying that. At all. My point is that you're opening this thread up for epic trolling, etc. I'd rather not see a thread that just turns into a huge argument. Of course if it doesn't, thats fine. Just don't expect everyone to react well to it. Its the same with religion threads. People get angry over nothing.

And no, I'm not prejudiced in any way. I have many gay friends, I live near San Francisco so I get plenty of exposure to it, etc. I believe in gay rights and all that, and I have worked towards it in my community; so your comment about me needing to imply that homosexuals need to hide who they are actually downright pisses me off, because thats not at all what I mean.

-JL

[NickJohnson]

... conceptually the concepts are identical.

One is a choice, the other is not. That is a pretty big difference already. In fact, the only similarity I see is that they're both statistically minority groups.

[BlueVelvet]

The reason why its not a good idea to discuss sexuality here is because this place exists on the internet - meaning that its very likely to start angry arguments and various negative reactions. Then again, I can't speak to him being accepting or otherwise, so I don't know. However, your analogy of comparing open source to homosexuality doesn't make any sense.

-JL

It's unfortunate that you feel the need to imply homosexuals should hide who they are and not ever mention a vital part of their identity online--out of all places.

Why doesn't my analogy make sense? I'm not even sure a more direct comparison could be made, conceptually the concepts are identical.

I wasn't saying that. At all. My point is that you're opening this thread up for epic trolling, etc. I'd rather not see a thread that just turns into a huge argument. Of course if it doesn't, thats fine. Just don't expect everyone to react well to it. Its the same with religion threads. People get angry over nothing.

And no, I'm not prejudiced in any way. I have many gay friends, I live near San Francisco so I get plenty of exposure to it, etc. I believe in gay rights and all that, and I have worked towards it in my community; so your comment about me needing to imply that homosexuals need to hide who they are actually downright pisses me off, because thats not at all what I mean.

-JL

Okay, my friend, I meant no hard feelings. Your initial reply just felt a little tense. Now back to the issue at hand, what exactly do you think doesn't make sense about my analogy?

[BlueVelvet]

... conceptually the concepts are identical.

One is a choice, the other is not. That is a pretty big difference already. In fact, the only similarity I see is that they're both statistically minority groups.

If people chose to be gay, how would that make a difference? I don't see how it would change a thing. I hope you weren't implying what I think you are...

[NickJohnson]

... conceptually the concepts are identical.

One is a choice, the other is not. That is a pretty big difference already. In fact, the only similarity I see is that they're both statistically minority groups.

If people chose to be gay, how would that make a difference? I don't see how it would change a thing. I hope you weren't implying what I think you are...

To be more explicit: using GNU/Linux is a conscious choice, while being gay is not (it merely occurs randomly.) That is why they are dissimilar, and why people don't think your analogy makes sense.

Edit: I don't mean to sound accusatory in any way - you simply asked why your analogy didn't make sense. I have nothing against homosexuality: I don't quite see how you inferred what I think you did from what I said. (I do use complex sentence structure a lot, as you can see )

[gravaera]

Actually, it's just that this topic itself is confusingly random and really adds nothing to the forums. It doesn't add humour, interesting but unrelated knowledge about some intriguing development, a social-decentralizer, a "chance to unwind", or anything really practical at all. It's just like a plain statement of the OP's opinion on a random topic which really gives no room for comment, and honestly presents no opportunity for stimulating discussion.

There are several fixed template responses that this thread would have received if we weren't all pragmatic nit-pickers, and hadn't just got fixated on the impracticality of the thread, but had rather decided to discuss homosexuality itself; the various post archetypes would present themselves roughly this order:

• The moral precedent establisher posters: these posters would seek to make statements laced with a "forward looking" undertone which tries to present anti-gay views as being archaic, and try to present the pro-gay view as being modern, sophisticated and tolerant; the idea is to post with a tone that implies that "the majority" supports the pro-gay view.
• The personal experience and encouragement sharing poster: this poster would post with an "upbeat" tone and attempt to use a personal experience (whether good or bad) to open, then try to set up subtext of "progress" of the human species as a whole based on the progress of gay-rights, etc, and will most likely end with some encouraging words both to gays viewing the thread, and to non-gays who support homosexuals, asking both sides to continue their efforts.
• The unimpressed and unmovingly anti-gay poster: this poster will break into the thread's sequence of pro-gay posts and state that he does not surrender to the current surge of LGBT rights, etc, and will present counter-arguments for the pro-gay view.
• The accord and support providing poster: this person will agree with the above poster and present edifying points to further concrete the anti-gay view.
• The scientific evidence and research paper lobbyist: This person will call the anti-gay posters arcane, and will use tongue-in-cheek linguistics to embellish various scientific theories du jour which support the pro-gay view.
• The counter scientific evidence and research paper neutralizing poster: This person will attempt to prove using other scientific theories du jour that the anti-gay view stands firm.

The debate is now ready to burst into a flurry of activity. The following key components will begin cropping up, and several alt-accounts will be created by various members in order to reply anonymously and avoid staining their forumz reputation which they have built over months or years of e-p33n stroking.

• The person with no hard evidence who has an "opinion": This person typically will make a statement about a loved one who is currently struggling under an oppressive burden inflicted upon them by none other than "people like" the anti-gay posters, and will state that "they think" that people should leave people alone and that "in their opinion" love is all that matters.
• The guilt and shame slinging attacker: This person will state that they are ashamed to be human/black/white/young/republican etc, and will use barely understandable attempts at sarcasm and irony to avoid using facts to concrete their argument, and then generally "rage quit" the argument several times, returning at least once on each page to sling more mud before solemnly vowing to leave the pathetic thread and never return.
• The Troll: The sign that the thread is now going nowhere.
• The summoner of the moderators: This person will, along with other summoners of varying levels of power attempt to conjure up a mod to close the thread.
• The moderator: The great envoy to the end. The Alpha and Omega, the dark lord. He will close the thread in his fury and infinite wisdom.

Now let's wait and see how far this thread gets

--Peace out,
gravaera

[VolTeK]

Do you try to silence gay people in real life too?

Let me remove the idea of anyone being gay right here. No one cares who is and who isnt as you can tell. Making comparisons doesnt exactly mean were going to pick on you for being gay, were alittle above that and not as shallow as you think. Keep that in mind next time you think on a response to much.

As for your post, Its advertisement in my opinion. I saw windows more, i used windows first, and now im writing my own shell for it.





I feel... a troll face... coming.... high.. res..olution...

[NickJohnson]

@gravaera:

You forgot:

• The meta-analyst: This person will deconstruct every possible direction the rest of the thread could go, and theorize on it's eventual course. This, through reverse psychology, will prevent any of the predictions from occurring. Including this one.