- cross-posted to:
- hackernews
- experienced_devs@programming.dev
- cross-posted to:
- hackernews
- experienced_devs@programming.dev
Reading between the lines, sounds like he’s pissed about being called out for being a Putin apologist and following Russia’s party line on Ukraine.
You’re not going to shame people into disowning their morality. This isn’t a fight you’re going to win.
I would like to offer as a counterpoint that everything is political. Tech is no exception. Tech is a tool, a tool comes with a specific affordance and an affordance suggests to the wielder a certain worldview. To wilfully ignore the social and political impact of one’s work does not protect it from the world’s turmoil.
How is a text editor political?
Whether it is being offered to the end users as free (as in freedom) software or as paid closed source has the usual implications. Ease of use, accessibility measures and support impacts inclusivity. Supported languages (natural and programming) will influence further who uses them or not. What constitutes the user base will determine what’s it’s used for and in turn will apply pressure to the editor to take a certain direction.
Political impact is not always obvious and not every single grain of software will be infused with a powerful one. The point is that our choice is either to ignore it or to acknowledge it. We can’t opt out of the world; blind neutrality is as political as any other position.
Whats the position of vim?
A major political agenda of Vim is to support children in Uganda. A message about that is displayed whenever you open Vim’s start page. Bram Moolenaar insisted on users donating to the ICCF charity instead of to him, making Vim a very political editor in my view.
It’s. A. Text. Editor.
Are you referring to any political views its author might’ve had? 'Cos all i could find is some charity stuff.
No, I was agreeing with you, just adding another example