Subject: Compare and Contrast
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 16:49:42 +0000
From: Simon Wistow 
To: Void 


Anyway, one is an email claiming that a t-shirt will destroy years of
work getting Perl accepted by American corporations and the other is a
widely read Web techniques column by the same author at
http://www.stonehenge.com/perl/amihooternot

Failing to see why t-shirts were offensive now.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: (void) Re: Come and Get It (x-posted)
Date: 10 Jul 2000 09:18:17 -0700
From: merlyn(at)xxx.com (Randal L. Schwartz)
To: xxx(at)xxx.org
 

>>>>> "Jonathan" == Peterson, Jonathan  writes:

>> 
>> The way I'm reading this, it's no longer about a couple of dumb
>> jokes on T-shirts[2]. It's looking more and more like:
>> 
>> "Local", "grassroots", "there's more than one way to do it", 
>> "diversity"
>> 
>> vs.
>> 
>> "american", "centralised", "do it our way", "our cultural norms are
>> all that matter".

Jonathan> I'm sorry you feel that way. I disagree. This is nothing
Jonathan> more than a grey area regarding tastefullness, where, no
Jonathan> doubt, there is a degree of alignment along:

Jonathan> 1. Nationality
Jonathan> 2. Age
Jonathan> 3. Sex


I'm just putting it in simple terms.  For those that aren't offended
by the statement "#!perl is my bitch", can you at least see that it's
true that some people *are* offended by it?  In particular, that it
makes Perl the tool of "teen perl hacker misogynist guys", exactly
what corporate America often thinks Perl is exclusively suitable for?

That's what I'm trying to point out.  I'll fight to the death
someone's right for free speech.  But I also want to be able to sell
YAPC and all-things-Perl to corporate America, and having such a
t-shirt sale where the proceeds fund a Perl "event" in a recognizable
way is not helping the cause!

Part of the reason you *get* to use Perl is because I've been able to
sell it to corporations.  Please don't make my job harder!

That's why I cannot personally be involved with a conference that does
such.  My absence will be useful as a statement of "well, the big
players didn't come, so it's not a real conference" thus letting me
ignore or deny the offensive slogan issue.

So where are we on this?  Was the page taken down, or made clear that
it's just a private citizen selling random t-shirts, not associated
with the conference?  I'm trying to make travel plans for September.

-- 
Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc.