Re: Joint statement on the GNU Project

[Jean Louis <bugs@gnu.support>]

* Christophe Poncy <christophe@poncy.fr> [2019-10-11 23:10]:
> On 2019-10-11 20:41, Taylan Kammer wrote:
> > […]  What position does he
> > hold within today's GNU project other than being a wise old person
> > (wise with respect to his topics of expertise) who is respected a lot?
> > 
> 
> As a simple user, I see him as the guardian of the temple ("Chief
> GNUisance"), and that reassures me because he embodies the free software
> philosophy on its own.
> 
> > the maintainers and contributors collectively
> > hold a lot more power than any single person.
> 
> IMO, the GNU essence is more powerful than the sum of its hackers.
> 
> > So in a way I guess I  don't really see what the statement
> > is trying to accomplish
> 
> It visibly sets the scapegoat mechanism in motion, see
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapegoating#Scapegoat_mechanism

Thanks. Good for my reference for further propaganda.

Literary critic and philosopher Kenneth Burke first coined and described the expression scapegoat mechanism in his books Permanence and Change (1935),[14] and A Grammar of Motives (1945).[15] These works influenced some philosophical anthropologists, such as Ernest Becker and René Girard. Girard developed the concept much more extensively as an interpretation of human culture. In Girard's view, it is humankind, not God, who has need for various forms of atoning violence. Humans are driven by desire for that which another has or wants (mimetic desire). This causes a triangulation of desire and results in conflict between the desiring parties. This mimetic contagion increases to a point where society is at risk; it is at this point that the scapegoat mechanism[16] is triggered. This is the point where one person is singled out as the cause of the trouble and is expelled or killed by the group. This person is the scapegoat. Social order is restored as people are contented that they have solved the cause of their problems by removing the scapegoated individual, and the cycle begins again. The keyword here is "content". Scapegoating serves as a psychological relief for a group of people. Girard contends that this is what happened in the narrative of Jesus of Nazareth, the central figure in Christianity. The difference between the scapegoating of Jesus and others, Girard believes, is that in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, he is shown to be an innocent victim; humanity is thus made aware of its violent tendencies and the cycle is broken. Thus Girard's work is significant as a reconstruction of the Christus Victor atonement theory. 

Important is free software philosophy and as such it is not political.

Jean