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Torvalds Uses Profanity To Lambaste Romney Remarks

Posted by samzenpus on from the can't-we-all-just-get-along? dept.

netbuzz writes "Last night Linux creator Linus Torvalds took to his Google+ page and called Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney 'a f***ing moron.' Torvalds' stated reason? Romney's much-ridiculed suggestion that air passengers would be safer in emergencies if aircraft windows could be opened (a suggestion which some, including Snopes.com, have taken as a joke). Torvalds also recently called Mormonism, Romney's religion, 'bats**t crazy.' Is this just Linus being Linus? Or does such outspokenness on non-technical matters reflect poorly on the Linux community that Torvalds leads?"

8 of 1,223 comments (clear)

  1. Listening to the video by rolfwind · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I had no clue in Romney's tone or anything else he was joking.

  2. Ask Mark Twain about calling a thing by its name by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What a loaded question. "Does it reflect badly and cause of loss of reputation", what... that someone calls a batshit crazy religion batshit crazy? Didn't hurt Mark Twain's reputation much.

    http://www.salamandersociety.com/marktwain/

    So I guess the answer is no.

  3. Re:idiotic politically correct fears indeed by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I would venture a guess the 15+ million Mormons worldwide do.

    Aren't they too busy being "bats**t crazy" to care about what Torvalds says?

    Though I admit, getting my very own planet in the afterlife is a pretty tempting proposition.

    [I know too many really good and decent devout people to absolutely discount religious beliefs, and the big ones are based upon centuries, if not millennia of tradition. So I have something of a grandfather-clause when it comes to ridiculing religion. If your religion was created after the development of the steam engine, you're a crackpot. If your religion pre-dates the steam engine, I'm careful not to insult your beliefs. I'm considering pushing it back to Newton, but for now, the steam engine is the cutoff.

    I know it's kind of arbitrary, but I've found it to be a very reliable rule-of-thumb. ]

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  4. Re:Fortunately, Romney isn't a Democrat by bmo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Oh, I can certainly point out some odious Democrats.

    During the SOPA hearings, I became particularly incensed at Maxine Waters. What a waste of everybody's time she is. She and a most on both sides of the aisle didn't particularly "get" why SOPA was a bad idea. Watt was similarly a waste of oxygen and body heat in that chamber. Only a handful like Polis (D), Lofgren(D), Lungren(R), and Issa (R) and got it. Hell, Polis even understood what the hell Bitcoin, TOR, and Silk Road are. The response on /g/ was "oh god, he knows!"

    --
    BMO

  5. Re:idiotic politically correct fears indeed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Joseph Smith also married the wife of Orson Hyde while Hyde was away serving a mission in Jerusalem/Palestine. While Orson and Nancy Hyde divorced later in life, THEY WERE MARRIED when Smith supposedly received a revelation from God that they should be married, despite Nancy Hyde already being married to Orson Hyde.

    The events I'm referring to are colloquially known as "history" and you should try reading some before repeating the same nonsense you've been told since you were a kid. Do some research and you'll discover the exact same things I discovered. IT SUCKS. I was devastated. I eventually got over the fact that the people who lied to me were well-meaning and didn't realize they were lied to as well.

    Uncle Joe was a con-man, a swindler, and a womanizer and he documented such in his own journals. Read the Joseph Smith Papers, volumes 1 and 2. Prepare to have your faith shattered, my friend. He documented his own exploits and still people believe the nonsense, it's absolutely incredible.

  6. Re:Come on by sjames · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How many rational people strap the dog kennel to the roof of the car?

  7. Re:idiotic politically correct fears indeed by GeekBoy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    On behalf of all Mormons, you guys are making a far bigger deal out of it than we are. I read it and just went... meh.. it's Linus being Linus.

    I think we can handle' Linus' opinion after. oh, having the US Gov't try to exterminate us and being the target of 'Christian' hate, I mean Love, for a couple hundred years that resulting in smear campaigns, regular protests in front of our places of worship, tar and feathering, burning down our homes, raping our women and killing our children and murdering our leaders....

    Linus, no problem. I'll take Linus' love over 'Christian' love any day.

  8. Re:idiotic politically correct fears indeed by Seeteufel · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The Nationalist Socialist party, movement I must say, was a revolutionary nationalist movement with a mythological re-foundation of the national idea based on blood and soil, a leader cult and expansionary foreign policies. Racism of the National Socialists followed a hygienics concept. It wasn't "conservative", like the Center Party or the DVP, or even the restaurative DNVP which all stood for a pluralist civil society and traditions.

    I agree with your analysis that the fragmentation of US national solidarity for health insurance etc. is founded on sublime racism. It is a quite Straussian perspective but I think it applies.

    In Europe freaky aggressive policy communication is usually the business of the "progressive" left and the right fringe. Conservatives are conservative, that is they restrain themselves. They don't engage in negative campaigning. You could say, conservatism is policy making for grandpas, not disgruntled haters. Europe is multicultural but equally struggles to create cohesion. But we see the emergence of right wing populist parties like FPÖ in Austria, PVV/Wilders in the Netherlands and others which adopt communications similar to US Republicans. They are mostly immune to scandals, poltical legacy and refuted facts, thus not conservative. Even Obama's positions would be unacceptable to modern European conservatives because he endorses death penalty, torture and targeted killings.