____/ dapunka on Tuesday 21 August 2007 20:53 : \____
> A while ago, I referred to someone (I think [H]omer) as a "zealot",
> and he got really pissed off. I hadn't meant it disparagingly - I was
> just saying he was a FOSS purist - but he reacted like I was a troll,
> baiting him. So I decided not to use the term again. Obviously it
> meant different things to different people.
>
> Then, just recently, I saw the same thing happen when someone else
> used the word. [H]omer (I think) said he was sick of Waterskidoo
> calling him a zealot, and said he was gonna consign Skid to his "troll
> file".
>
> This reawakened my puzzlement - to me, "zealot" always meant someone
> full of zeal, or enthusiasm, about something. So I decided to conduct
> one of my highly unscientific experiments. I googled "define zealot"
> and got the following definition from http://www.dictionary,net:
>
> Zealot \Zeal"ot\, n. [F. z['e]lote, L. zelotes, Gr. ?. See Zeal.]
>
> One who is zealous; one who engages warmly in any cause, and pursues
> his object with earnestness and ardor; especially, one who is
> overzealous, or carried away by his zeal; one absorbed in devotion to
> anything; an enthusiast; a fanatical partisan.
>
> Okay, that last bit - someone who's "carried away bu his zeal" or is
> "a fanatical partisan" isn't too flattering. But the general gist
> doesn't seem offensive. Which is how I meant it when I used the term.
>
> Now, I'm gonna continue to avoid using the term zealot in this NG - I
> don't want to unwittingly offend someone like [H]omer, with whom I
> often agree. But I am concerned - are Linux purists letting certain
> disreputable people round here appropriate innocent words and turn
> them into insults, just through over-sensitivity? Surely the English
> language belongs to us all... and we shouldn't let innocent words
> morph into insults when there's no real grounds for it happening?
"Zeal" has a religious connotation and some of us dislike religion. It is also
used as a tool to create stereotype and invoke hate.
Use the work passionate instead. There is also nothing wrong with striving for
digital freedom. As time goes by, more people conspire to use digital
mechanism to gain power over other people and exploit them in a variety of
ways. If you let them get their way, it's back to the Middle Ages.
--
~~ Best of wishes
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