[Noisebridge-discuss] [drama] New logo = terrorism?

[John Magolske]

Noisebridge was my first exposure to hackerspaces. It impressed me
to see folks actively reclaiming the term "hacker" from mainstream
culture's association of that term with malevolent, criminal activity.
What draws me to Noisebridge is the Maker ethos of community gathering
to collaborate in constructive ways, building things and sharing
knowledge. People helping people, that sort of thing. Anyhow, just
my perspective, I'm sure everyone's got their own idea of what
Noisebridge & "hacking" is all about.

>From https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Logo @ 2010/01/09 Sat 14:41 PST:

  "This image is inspired by the CCC Sterntastatur (logo here)[1],
  the RAF (logo here)[2], the Weather Underground (logo here)[3]
  and San Francisco (hacker) Values."

  [1] https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Image:Sterntastatur.png
  [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RAF-Logo.svg
  [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Weather_Underground_logo.jpg

Not sure why anyone's inspired by the Weather Underground's approach.
The strategies they chose in their attempt to affect change in society
ended up being totally counter-productive IMO (brings to mind the term
"counterproductiveculture"). Kidnappings, nailbombs & bank robberies?
In addition to being hurtful and ultimately ineffective, this is a
rather unimaginative response. The violence begets violence begets
violence ad nauseam thing has been going on for many millennia; the WU
were not being particularly clever or unique.

In terms of where we draw inspiration from as a community, I'd hope we
could find models that engage more creativity and respect for life.

John


* Jonathan Foote <jtfoote at ieee.org> [100109 12:09]:
> They may have had cool logos, but let's not forget the RAF and the
> Weather Underground committed acts of violence against civilians.
> The RAF killed 34 people in bombings and shootings. The WU was
> clueless as well as well as violent, killing its own members with an
> ineptly constructed nail bomb.


-- 
John Magolske
http://B79.net/contact