You feel it would be a good idea to throw away the principles of free software to stroke your transient political preferences. It probably sounds good to people addled with paranoia in the Era of Trump and seeing Nazis under every bed, but all you're doing is dancing to the tune of large corporations and governments who would love nothing more than to turn computing -- "This Machine Kills Fascists," remember? -- into a tool of social and economic control that does the exact opposite of killing fascists. Oh, they may use the power you hand them to gulag a couple of random edgelords and keep you distracted, but are they going to hand that power back once it's consolidated? Won't you be surprised when they don't.
That said I imagine you'll probably succeed, since why should free software be any different from any of the other freedoms -- freedom of association, of the press, of conscience -- that you folks would happily toss in the trash the moment they get in your way?
Here's your answer
No.
You feel it would be a good idea to throw away the principles of free software to stroke your transient political preferences. It probably sounds good to people addled with paranoia in the Era of Trump and seeing Nazis under every bed, but all you're doing is dancing to the tune of large corporations and governments who would love nothing more than to turn computing -- "This Machine Kills Fascists," remember? -- into a tool of social and economic control that does the exact opposite of killing fascists. Oh, they may use the power you hand them to gulag a couple of random edgelords and keep you distracted, but are they going to hand that power back once it's consolidated? Won't you be surprised when they don't.
That said I imagine you'll probably succeed, since why should free software be any different from any of the other freedoms -- freedom of association, of the press, of conscience -- that you folks would happily toss in the trash the moment they get in your way?