From: Daniel Hazelton <dhazelton@enter.net>
To: Neil Brown <neilb@suse.de>
Subject: Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:48:40 -0400
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       Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>,
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       Tarkan Erimer <tarkan@netone.net.tr>, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
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On Wednesday 13 June 2007 20:14:47 Neil Brown wrote:
> On Wednesday June 13, dhazelton@enter.net wrote:
> > 1: Sheeple (n): People that act like sheep - ie: they cannot think or
> > form opinions for themselves and always look to someone else for their
> > thoughts and parrot the opinions of some "trusted" figure.
>
> I recommend that you avoid definitions like this.  Using them simply
> makes you appear to have a very poor understanding of your fellow
> humans.
>
> "cannot" and "always" are absolutes that never apply (well, hardly
> ever).

In this case I gave a very hasty definition of the term, though it does fit 
very well. 

> In my experience, most people do think for themselves and do form
> opinions about areas where they have an interest/ability, and tend to
> follow trusted others in areas where they have less interest or
> ability.

Agreed. But those *aren't* "Sheeple".

> The problem that I think you see is particularly the "parrot the
> opinions" bit.  When a person tries to argue a case based largely on
> the opinion of someone else with little personal understanding, they
> are in very risky territory.   This is akin to 'fundamentalism' that
> you also mentioned in your post.
>
> Accusing people of arguing opinions that are not their own may well be
> appropriate. Accusing them of not be able to think is not.

I never accused any specific person of either. I was making an observation 
about the general nature of humanity as I've observed it. A better definition 
of "Sheeple" would be "Someone who continually parrots some "trusted" figures 
opinion even when presented with proof that that opinion is in error. They 
also, generally, do not "think deeply" on any topic."

And while I won't apologize to anyone that may have felt the "Sheeple" remark 
was directed at them, I will apologize for not taking more time to choose a 
better definition for the term originally.

DRH

> NeilBrown
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