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> I am actually skeptical of people who step up to work for the government at this moment in time.

I'm sure this wounds them deeply.

Given what we're facing worldwide, I'd say more people are skeptical of anyone that works in tech at this moment in time.

>There's a lot of nationalist language on this site.

Incredibly the US government isn't anti-US. This may come as a surprise to some in certain online bubbles.

>do we really want to give any assistance to the goals of this administration?

The goals of going to the moon? You're right, it's a giant waste of money when there are problems to be solved on earth. Something many people have been saying for a long time. Glad you're coming around.


Can you point me to the ongoing strike by NASA employees?

>ok dude, can I give you a list of things I want to change about your country’s policies? reply

of course, non Americans never comment on American policies


Funny that's how I feel when Europeans lecture about wars and imperialism

Of all the times to complain about Europeans complaining about wars, maybe now is not the time?

No, now is the time, considering there's been an active war in Europe for many years now that they've been begging the US to get involved with.

If Japanese internment worried you, you should see Europe's treatment of perceived outsiders [0] and get reallyyyy worried about the ongoing attacks [1] and rhetoric [2]. I would urge extreme caution to anyone in Europe that is at risk.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expulsion_of_Jews_from_Spain

[1] https://www.ein.org.uk/news/home-office-remove-euss-pre-sett...

[2] https://www.ft.com/content/0e29224f-9d06-4315-a89f-e334ffbc6...

Also, what nationality do you say Elon Musk is, out of curiosity? Let's test your consistency :)


> Expulsion of Jews from Spain [...] On 31 March 1492, the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile, issued the Alhambra Decree, ordering all unconverted Jews to leave their kingdoms and territories by the end of July that year, unless they converted to Christianity

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but we (I live in Spain) have come a long way since 1492 (534 years ago) and if that's the most recent example you can find of "Europe's treatment of perceived outsiders" I think you yourself know that stuff like that doesn't happen today, in Europe.


In the UK two decades ago (admittedly not the shortest time) I heard plenty of terrible words and treatment of Pakistanis (which seemed to be used as a good enough bucket for all brown skinned people) and people with red hair. A general disdain for Continentals was a little more subdued. When I was younger France was famous for it's poor treatment of foreigners and non-francophiles. Consider all the politics and anger towards those that continue to try to cross the Mediterranean on makeshift boats or the constant complaints about "benefit thieves" who emigrate from the Eastern bloc. There are many examples and some of them are not without basis but while things have gotten less stabby-stabby there's some fairly brutal attitudes and behaviors.

I'm not defending racism against immigrants to Europe, but let's get this in proportion. It wasn't long ago that the US had _state mandated segregation_ and regular lynchings. All racism is abhorrent, but I really don't see Europe a specifically problematic in this regard.

I didn't make the claim that Europe is specifically problematic. I was noting that between extremes the GP was talking about

> Europe's treatment of perceived outsiders

Who'd've thunk it, people be tribal?


> There are many examples and some of them are not without basis but while things have gotten less stabby-stabby there's some fairly brutal attitudes and behaviors.

Yeah, I won't claim that everyone is treated equally or even fairly in Europe, and some places are absolutely worse than others, in many different ways.

I'd still claim we no longer do "expulsions" of entire ethnoreligious groups anymore in the 21st century though, which was the initial example of why Europe today is terrible.


I agree things have improved but the GP to my first post set context to:

> Europe's treatment of perceived outsiders

You seemed to be picking a rather narrow slice of the scope.


Well, to be fair, GP did use the "Expulsion of Jews from Spain" as the example for that, so I don't think they were trying to say "Some people in Europe have bad thoughts about perceived outsiders" but rather hinting to some larger events still happening today.

That's fair. To continue being fair, there's a lot of rough behavior happening throughout the world these days. We've forgotten how bad we can make things.

I'd suggest that in Europe also there's more than just bad thoughts for outsiders but bad words, bad treatment, and exclusion from thriving. Extreme cases include bodily harm and I'm fairly certain death but these extreme occur at a lower scale.


Tbf theres a much more recent example of legitimate antisemitism in europe. One around the same time as us interment of japanese people

A more relevant recent example would be the shameful stripping of British citizenship from a girl who had been trafficked to the Middle East

They got radicalized and went there voluntarly

In a civilised society, we don't typically regard 15 year olds as responsible for their own radicalisation at the hands of adults

There is no civilized society that treats 15 years old not responsible for joining terrorist groups and for actively working with them.

15 year old being radicalised into terrorism is a societal and parental failure, not the moral failure of an individual child. We don’t treat 15 year olds as adults in other legal proceedings, we should not do here either

Civilised societies tend to blame the groomers, not the victims.

I thought the right wing supported that view.


Didn't have "Europe is antisemitic because of the Spanish Inquisition" on my bingo card today. No one expects it, indeed.

The other two are ok-ish (though notably Reform is not in government and the elections are 4 years away) but yeah leading with a source from the 15th century really doesn’t support the argument.

The UK Home Office decision about settled status is the fault of the UK, not the EU.

The FT piece is paywalled. But two prominent members of Reform are currently in jail - one for domestic abuse, and one for treason (!) - so the party is not famous for a steely dedication to the moral high ground.


I have more evidence of European xenophobia if that isn't sufficient for you

I dont think you travel much, it would help you get more... objective opinions. But yes please show us that mighty evidence

Musk collects citizenships like they’re going out of fashion. He fled South’s Africa due to not wanting to be drafted.

Lieutenant Torvalds on the other hand fulfilled his service duties.

Should the US and South Africa go to war it seems clear where musks loyalties would lie. Should the US and Finland go to war I suspect that Torvalds wouldn’t be as clear cut.


Is this the daily thread on this topic?

Astroturfing around this is getting suspicious.


> Astroturfing around this is getting suspicious.

It's perfectly possible for people to be passionate about the subject.


I've never met a real human that was passionate about what OS a government worker in some local French commune uses, but it's the hottest topic on HN behind AI

Most of the passion is around being felt exploited my american tech giants and feeling hopeful at seeing large respectable institutions divest from them. Thats legit, not astroturfed

I don't believe we've met, but I've long been convinced that governments should not be reliant on commercial software and proprietary formats and protocols. It just seems obvious that relying on Microsoft this and that is a blinkered, short-term view.

I do care for them setting an example for my local government.

Right, what about FOSS developers who care about what guidelines the entire country has regarding OS usage? Maybe I'm living in a bubble, but everyone (mostly Europeans to be fair) seems excited about moving away from US technologies.

This move isn't just "Local French commune thinks about Linux", it's "French government agency that can mandate what others do, set hard guideline for agencies and magistrates to come up with a concrete plan for how to move to Linux", which is worlds beyond what we've seen before.


Let me introduce you to a meme ... 2026: The Year of the Linux Desktop

> Astroturfing around this is getting suspicious.

Nah, linux and "$curreant_year is the year of the linux desktop" is just something the hacker / maker / nerd scene is passionate about.


I remember similar articles being posted 20+ years ago on Slashdot. And as we’ve seen, it’s often less of a “use Linux” and more of a “we have an alternate vendor” and there’s often suspicious lock-in (see the case in the EU or some similar country where the vendor was reading emails).

At least in some cases, it's actually using Linux and open document format, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GendBuntu

>USAians

The word you're looking for is Americans, despite whatever preconceived notion you think the word "Americans" actually should mean in English. I know nothing will ever change European minds, but at least understand what the correct form is.

>everything is less popular in Europe simply because it is inferior and fails purely on its technical merits

So everything is less popular in Europe because it fails on many other points? Big applause to you, I guess. Are you looking for a participation award?


As an Englishman, I don't need lectures on my language.

English isn't controlled by a central authority. If a new word takes hold, it takes hold, that's it.

The way the USA thinks it has an absolute right to decimate central and South America disgusts me to the core and I'm tired of those poor people being lumped in with the term "Americans". It's offensive to them. The USA does not own the continent as much as the CIA tries.

Just as we received lectures on our declining power, it's time for the USA to suffer the same.


>As an Englishman, I don't need lectures on my language.

An Englishman? You mean Englandian. English is a language, you can't lump everyone who speaks it into one category.

>English isn't controlled by a central authority

Exactly. And the Englandian usage has no superiority over any other.

>The USA does not own the continent as much as the CIA tries.

Maybe not, but we do own the UK (:


Oh man you yanks are so bad at insults haha

> You mean Englandian

Sounds fine lol

> English is a language

Yup, ours. The one thing you couldn't buy :)


This! I want to read HN but it's unfair that I have to do it on an electronic device. Ycombinator should be required to offer me a print service that delivers the top articles and a phone in service to make comments through

Who is we? You can't be Iranian since you have Internet, which the great defenders of liberty in Iran have disabled for their citizens


Majority of the world prefers stability over United States bombing people’s homes in Middle East and elsewhere. The entire NATO is against this. Pointless aggression and war that serves no purpose other than economical and human loss needs to stop.

Additionally Iranians don’t support this, nor do they want their children getting killed by United States. Regardless of their issues with the government, they rally around the flag to defend their land.

So I would assume that “we” here represents majority of people in the world.


Don't know, ask Iran. But you can't since they've silenced everyone by turning off the Internet for all their citizens


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