[asterisk-dev] Insulting source code comments in main/channel.c

[Andrew Kohlsmith (Mailing List Account)]

On November 23, 2009 02:03:40 pm Vlasis Hatzistavrou (KTI) wrote:
> Grow a sense of humor against insults? Really? Do I absolutely have to?
> Hm... On second thought why not turn the other cheek?

What insult? Some poor coddled soul thought that someone spat on him with a 
comment talking about "silly" Europeans with their alaw codecs in a codebase 
originally written by an American.

> Detrimental stereotypes, humor about culture, delicate sensibilities...
> And all this is coming from a person living in North America (judging by
> the .ca suffix in your email) which is the capital of political
> correctness (according to Americans), where discriminating and demeaning
> comments against any group is frowned upon vehemently, etc.

Sure, I am Canadian; my heritage is German and Russian, I am married to a 
Romanian and have scores of friends from various cultures and races and 
locations all over the globe. We all seem to get along just fine, even when we 
use cultural slurs or racist jokes against each other. If any one of them 
would take the ludicrous stance that the OP took in this thread you could bet 
your bottom dollar (or Euro in your case, they're worth more) that I'd tease 
them even more viciously than I did here.

Political correctness is a disease, just like zero-tolerance rules in schools 
and the constant worry we instill in our children about whether something they 
say may be taken the wrong way by some immature whiner who's got nothing 
better to do than look for ways they can be offended. Tact and diplomacy are 
wonderful, powerful tools, but taken to the extreme you have political 
correctness. I hate it, and I'm usually a pretty tactful, diplomatic person.

So again: grow up. Nobody insulted you, nor your culture. If you can't bear 
the thought of someone calling your physical location's codec preference 
silly, then you best find somewhere else to hang out. I'd recommend nursery 
school. I honestly don't know how people this sensitive can function in a 
normal society. If you're offended this easily I bet you're a ton of fun to 
hang around.

> In all sincerity now, wouldn't a comment against "silly Americans" raise
> hell in this thread? Why the double standards?

Oh, there are scads of whiny babies on this side of the pond, too. The problem 
over here is that they tend to wield lawyers and lobby for ridiculous laws to 
be passed rather than just whinge on mailing lists. I make no claim that North 
America is some safe haven against the ultrameek, and I assure you that if 
someone bitched and moaned about a comment in the code about "silly Americans" 
I'd be writing this exact same email. My posting has nothing to do with 
location or even the content that set all this off; my posting has everything 
to do with my railing against this idiocy called political correctness and 
supersenstivity.

-A.