Not fitting in with the OSS Stereotype.

September 2, 2008 by jcastro

I love it how people assume that other people have certain political and/or religious beliefs based purely on what operating system they run on their computer.

Someone should do a study.

Posted in blog | 15 Comments

15 Responses

on September 2, 2008 at 11:01 pm | Reply Philip

I’ll admit to being slightly guilty of this. For some reason (it’s beyond me) I have it in my head that all users of GNU/Linux are bearded lefties (flowered shirts and sandals are optional). _I know this is not the case_, still, I find it difficult to shake the mental image. I agree, someone should do a study
on September 2, 2008 at 11:10 pm | Reply Robin Millette

Libertarian!! Or not… whatever happened to ESR?
on September 2, 2008 at 11:20 pm | Reply Joseph James Frantz

Philip that’s interesting because I always thought most of the users were conservative, pro business. Mostly that’s what I am surrounded by. I was surprised when I saw arguments online accusing the GNU GPL of being communist. It just always seem to me to be a free market, standards based thing. When Eben Moglen talks about not owning math, that right there strikes to the heart of how FOSS really is pro-business. It’s just one step along the way of math, weights and measures, road signs and so on. All the things that folks need to get stuff done.

I’m libertarian myself.
on September 2, 2008 at 11:21 pm | Reply Mackenzie

Well regulating ISPs (businesses) to enforce net neutrality…regulating businesses is generally considered a “liberal” thing.

And then there’s the Intellectual Property thing…the FOSS-user position is also often on the liberal side of things…

Oh, and MAFIAA hatred…
on September 3, 2008 at 12:24 am | Reply Yuriy Kozlov

Because FOSS is not just the “operating system they run on their computer.” It is for some, but it is also a philosophy and ideology. Evidently, people disagree about how that ideology relates to political ideas, but it certainly does relate.
on September 3, 2008 at 3:07 am | Reply Lars Wirzenius

For what it’s worth:

http://liw.iki.fi/liw/log/2007-01.html#20070103c
on September 3, 2008 at 5:45 am | Reply Wolfger

I’m not even sure what the stereotype is anymore. It used to be “bearded lefty” as somebody up above wrote, but I think that’s old. “Rabid Libertarian” seems more appropriate, but there seem to be fewer Libertarians that FOSSies, so how much of a stereotype can that be?

I am always shocked to learn a FOSSy is Republican, but… I’m shocked to learn *anybody* is a Republican after 8 years of Bush.
on September 3, 2008 at 9:07 am | Reply dukat

“I am always shocked to learn a FOSSy is Republican, but… I’m shocked to learn *anybody* is a Republican after 8 years of Bush.”

The world is full of wonders we will never understand. I feel with you.
on September 3, 2008 at 9:09 am | Reply Mendelt Siebenga

Somehow all the anarchists I know are pro OSS though
on September 3, 2008 at 9:33 am | Reply Casey

I’m a republican. I’m pro FOSS –not religious though, as I believe the best ‘tool’ for the job is appropriate. If its closed source, but works and open source does not….then that is what I will use.

Definition of a republican though is NOT what most people assume. My definition of a republican:

A democrat who has had his wallet picked one too many times.

The label republican/democrat is almost useless anymore. It should be “conservative/liberal” or even more divided as conservative:fiscal /social:moderate replacing the terms with what is most descriptive as needed.

Also, the last eight years of Bush. Please. That could be said of EVERY president since Washington and HAS been said by those on the opposite philosophical/political fence. A president can set policy and point the way, but the congress/senate have longer term consequences and more “responsibility” in many ways than one man. The president is ALWAYS the easy target due to his visibility as “leader”. Politics is deeper than that, but to the screaming masses its always gotta be SOMEBODY’S FAULT.

Another reason I’m continually thankful that this country is a democratic REPUBLIC rather than a democracy. (that little difference is bigger than most realize.)
on September 3, 2008 at 11:09 am | Reply Alan

The survey is here: http://www.politicalcompass.org/

Someone will have to setup a system to gather the results though.
on September 3, 2008 at 3:09 pm | Reply Joseph James Frantz

“I am always shocked to learn a FOSSy is Republican, but… I’m shocked to learn *anybody* is a Republican after 8 years of Bush.”

The world is full of wonders we will never understand. I feel with you.
—-
Gotta love comments like these. Polls, commentary and even anecdotes indicate that most Republicans and certainly conservatives feel betrayed by Bush.

I didn’t even know about the leftie stereotype. Like I said, the GNU GPL at least, always seemed so pro-business that I was surprised to learn that claim. Its use is something that just makes business sense.
—
The label republican/democrat is almost useless anymore. It should be “conservative/liberal” or even more divided as conservative:fiscal /social:moderate replacing the terms with what is most descriptive as needed.

and

Another reason I’m continually thankful that this country is a democratic REPUBLIC rather than a democracy. (that little difference is bigger than most realize.)
—
^^^^^^^^ THIS.

Too bad more folks do not know the difference anymore.
on September 3, 2008 at 3:37 pm | Reply Nathan Dbb

People who believe in FOSS should be pro-freedom. It puzzles me that some of them think that the freedom to own guns is more important then all the other freedoms put together.

My family all has guns, and I think that is a good thing. But, I don’t vote NRA/Republican as I think it is more important that:
1) we are not held with out charge,
2) we are not watched all the time,
3) we can do what we want to our bodies,
4) we can assemble and associate with out fear of government reprisals,
5) we are not tortured with out charge,
6) etc.

Just read about the “preemptive arrests” in the last few weeks. We do not have our Constitutional/BoR intact — the founding fathers would weep.

I can’t believe that anybody who would be willing to vote for the U.S. Republican party at the National level in this election; they need to take at TIME-OUT and learn to respect the people.
on September 4, 2008 at 8:21 am | Reply dukat

“My family all has guns, and I think that is a good thing”

Seems that life is very different on the other side of Big Pond.
on September 6, 2008 at 8:52 pm | Reply darth_indy

I’m proudly conservative, but not a Republican – I agree, Republican/Democrat are basically useless labels.

I’m definitely a FOSS advocate, and I’ve converted nearly all of my family and friends as well – and a majority of them are conservative Christians such as myself. In some FOSS mailing lists I belong to, there is a large majority of liberals – I’ve had to leave some because of the huge amounts of bias. IMHO, this is mostly a non-political issue. When it comes to privacy rights, file-sharing laws, and all the other geek-related politics, we’re almost all on the same side of the fence. Everything else should be left behind when discussing FOSS.

@Joseph James Frantz: +1 and cheers for your comment. I wish more people thought like you did.