It’s time for the United States to begin an era of economic sharing that will reduce resentment of the country and could mean a larger computer technology market for everyone, Red Hat Chief Executive Matthew Szulik said Tuesday.
Red Hat chief calls for idealism, reform, sharing
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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You’ll never get rid of resentment, People in other countrys are taught to hate the US weather the realize it or not. It should be obvious. Look what we did, and still do. Ever seen a sattelite photograph of South Korea and North Korea at night? It’s one of the most telling stories you can get from a picture. What about Taiwan? What about the 15 BILLION bucks we sent to Africa to help with AIDS, granada, haiti, Milosevic who killed hundreds of thousands, Kadafi, Hitler, Saddam. We’ve freed more people in 200 years than the rest of the world has done combined. If that doesn’t help resentment then OSS isn’t going to do it and frankly I find it insulting.
Not to put a damper on the posts of the two “funboys” before me, but I thought I would just add a few things to the mix:
Sactions, embargos, misused patents, exploitation, torture, etc etc etc, and the list goes on. All of which hurt innocent civilians.
Check US import/export ratio to find out how much it contributes.
Several of the supressors in the world were US funded to begin with.
But you are right, most US citizens will never understand why so many in the third world and undeveloped countries dislike US.
I just don’t understand what he’s saying.
In a one-hour meeting, Szulik said, Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam told the Red Hat chief of his enthusiasm for boosting education in India with open-source software. But Szulik told attendees that he continues to struggle to get his own local schools even to learn how to pronounce Linux.
What does that have to do with sharing software with the rest of the world?!?
Without that sharing, the United States will continue to spur “resentment” and “alienation” in other countries, he said, noting that China, India and Eastern Europe now have begun to channel their anger into technological and scientific competition that challenges the United States.
ROTFLMAO — there was a time when Americans at least gave lip service to the notin that competition was a good thing. Competition spurs change; it forces companies to manufacture a good product at a reasonable price. I, personally, would much rather have China, India and Eastern Europe (um, is he sure about Eastern Europe?) develop their own stable technological and scientific bases, than that they live off the largesse of the United States.
Interestingly, China, India and Eastern Europe (?) started to develop by abandoning centrally-planned economies.
I happen to favor increased foreign aid (rebuilding schools in Iraq: good thing), but this is a pathetic argument (subsidizing Red Hat Linux because it’s free software: bad thing).
The guy was saying we have to think about things and attempt to expand the global market so there is more for everyone rather than just trying to grab a bigger chunk of a fixed sized pie.
Most people don’t resent the US, but it doesn’t mean they won’t change their minds if they always get a raw deal.
Sactions, embargos, misused patents, exploitation, torture, etc etc etc, and the list goes on. All of which hurt innocent civilians.
And yet, no one hates other countries where the same stuff happens — and WORSE — in some cases, the anti-American herd even romanticizes the oppressors. It just depends on who’s telling the story, and how the story’s told…
Sactions, embargos, misused patents, exploitation, torture, etc etc etc, and the list goes on. All of which hurt innocent civilians.
Where are those embargos coming from? places like Iraq? where the only Oil we got was from the Oil for food program. We didn’t hurt that country, It’s leader hurt that country. You expect us to fund a nutcase in the same breath as saying we are hated for “funding them”. The fact you equate patents as the equvilant of freeing billions of people is very telling.
Seems like richleys are always more than ready to “share” U.S. resources of all sorts with outside interests.
After all – they’ve already got theirs…
While we’re at it — why don’t we give up all U.S. sovereignty, drop the patrols on the borders, insure that fully 50% of the wealth of every U.S. CEO, celebrity and other wealthy citizen is sent abroad immediately, etc.
C’mon y’all lets just race downhill to 3rd World status while the monied elite here sit behind their guarded electric fences, in their gated communiteies, etc. and give the country away. It’s already happening apace anyway !
Mankind’s darker facets are a heart problem not a financial one.
Some folks will resent you – no matter what you do – just because you’re different than what their cultural or herd instincts approve of or find appealing.
It’s always going to be “Yankee” (or other patron) go home but, leave your dollars/euros/yen/etc..
insulting — it’s downright nauseating…
It’s simple folks. You over there are just a bunch of bungling idiots, just as we are over here. The difference is that you expect/demand to be worshiped for your stupidity and we keep ours quiet.
You have just proved that wrong! I don’t see you being very quiet.
Actually, the real reason the US is hated is because it’s not the ‘underdog’. The US has some serious problems (like previously mentioned), but even though those problems are nothing compared, to say, being the leader of the free world (lets accept it) people like to hassle the more powerful ones. If you are an underdog most people tend to give you more leeway.
I mean, if arab dictators are going to brainwash thier country into hating someone for the poverty caused by those dictators, who are they going to blame it on? The Swiss (nothing personal)? Greenland? Who the fsck are those countries compared to the richest and precieved most glorious country in the world?
Note: I am a non-American
No wonder it’s called RED hat… the guy’s a freakin’ socialist. I vow never to touch another Red Hat distro for the rest of my life.
Spoken like a true Marxist.
5. 1950-1953 – The intervention in Korea with 350,000 US soldiers, 1000 tanks, 1,600 warplanes, over 300 battleships. US used napalm bombs, chemical warfare and bacteriological warfare. Over 2,500,000 million Korean people were killed in this conflict.
Funny, that was sanctioned by a US Security Council Resolution — and the war was launched by North Korea, with significant help from the Soviet Union.
http://www.kimsoft.com/2001/ussr-kr.htm
As for “chemical warfare” — since when is “tear gas” chemical warfare? Would you have preferred flamethrowers?
http://strategypage.com/fyeo/howtomakewar/default.asp?target=htchem
The “people’s revolution” in Greece — LOL!!!
The rest of your drivel can be dismissed similarly.
The US, being the most powerful ‘democratic’ country in the world has an obligation to set an example to the rest of the world, when they don’t, there tends to be a severe backlash – eg torture in Iraq.
And yet, the Americans were investigating this, bringing the perpetrators of this torture to justice, and reforming the system some weeks before the media “uncovered” it. (Indeed, the media learned of it through the military.) This distinguishes us from most other countries — and yet we receive no credit for that… perhaps because we don’t broadcast certain things.
It all depends on your point of view, and what you’re at the receiving end of.
The US promotes/strongarms their own military and economic presence, at other nations/peoples expenses. (granted, most powerful nations do)
So, what are some of the bad stuff we get. (please excuse the rather ecclectic mix) – war, porn, hollywood, MTV, fast food, outsourcing, Microsoft, leaning on Europe to allow software patents, environmental intertia, American companies trying to ignore law and worker unions, etc etc. (and maybe Echelon and NSA backdoors)
Granted, there’s good stuff from the US too. Like movies, and fast food, and .NET.
And pop-tarts.
Money.. Yes, the US is a huge country, so naturally the amounts are huge, but in relative figures, the US give less than many other countries.
(BTW, contrary to popular belief money does not make the world go ’round. People do.)
I’m going to dare a stupid comparison which I’m sure has giant flaws, but anyway – Europe has returned (or withdrawn from) its colonies, and we’re paying our dues. How long will the US stay in Germany, South Korea, Cuba, Iraq, and everywhere else? At the very least, isn’t Europe “safe” enough to not need that kind of presence?
In terms of culture, how long will the US own the intellectual property of the “global teenager”?.. Didn’t they prolong the copyright TTL a while ago? (What about that case where someone was asked to pay royalties for a kid singing “Mary had a little lamb” in the background of some home video..)
Here’s hoping we can fight the lobbying in favor of software patents, and those who want to criminalize reverse-engineering of copy protection, use of strong cryptography, etc.
And then there’s the issue of natural resources and spending more than a fair share..
I certainly don’t hate Americans – I have a strong emotional connection to the US. However ironic the paintbrushed entertainment media image of the USA feels like “home”. Parts of the global system are crap though and need to change. Change is inevitable. I just hope it will be positive change rather than negative.
This looks like a positive movement: TrueMajority.org
(IMO, considering the issue brought forward in the article and comments by Glidedon and bitterman I feel that this on-topic and that paragraph 11 of the OSNews terms should not be strictly enforced)
“Who the fsck are those countries compared to the richest and precieved most glorious country in the world?”
Another way to put it would be that the U.S. also has the greatest burden in the world. When it came to stopping the Nazis AND the Emperor of Japan’s ambition at the same time, or holding back the Soviets, it’s the U.S. who carried the burden. When the Europeans need us to help with Kosovo or the U.N. needs us to push the Iraqis out of Kuwait, they’re not complaining about our military aggression then. And in all these cases it’s us doing most of the dying though it might be U.N. or NATO mission.
Meanwhile in Third World countries around the world, people are being butchered left and right, but if it doesn’t make the BBC or CNN, nobody cares. Note that you don’t hear alot of complaining about what the Russians are doing in Chechnya.
I’ll tell you why were hated, because the world temporarily doesn’t have anybody else to hate.
There’s nothing in that list that is or was illegal. Your facts are interventions by a country who cares. That’s the real fact.
Does our “world police” intervene because the UN drops the ball, or because the US administration prefer to be in control?
Note that you don’t hear alot of complaining about what the Russians are doing in Chechnya.
To be fair to the Russians, this is a lose-lose situation for them. Chechnya had virtual independence, and the Chechens proceeded to destabilize neighboring Dagestan. I’m not trying to justify what the Russians are doing, but they’re not in a great situation, and all the Russians I’ve spoken to feel the same way. (Small sample, I know, but still…)
What is interesting, is that these people don’t complain about what China does to Taiwan, what North Korea does to South Korea, what Syria does to Lebanon, what Turkey does to Cyprus, what India does to Kashmir, what Pakistan does to Kashmir, (yes you read that right) what Robert Mugabe does to his country (I keep forgetting the name), what Libya does to pretty much everyone they can (latest news: last year they were planning to assassinate the crown prince of Saudia Arabia), what Mexico does to itself, what France and Spain do to the Basques, what France does to Corsica, what Canada does to Quebec — okay I’m getting a little extreme in these last three. Nevertheless…
It would be nice to see how non-governmental American aid compares to the rest of the world. According to this website, American private charity to foreign countries more than triples the public aid:
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt/USAid.asp
…which is still not enough IMHO, but I’d still like to see it compared to other countries.
I stand corrected. It was a bad comparison to begin with.
Thanks for the added info!
Well, I’m there. I am ephatically not a communist, but have some socialist leanings.
The one thing I hate most about the United States (and many other countries) is this attitude that profit is king. The USA has one of the largest disparities in wealth distribution for all the 1st world countries, if not the largest outright. It seems that to profit in USA is a right, not a priviledge. Its about the money everytime. There is no concept of the greater good, except when it involves the poor giving up their rights in the name of “fighting terrorism”. what the hell is the PATRIOT Act. Why is it named so deviously, when it has nothing to do with being Patriotic, but is more about fighting ‘terrorism’. Was it to paint it colorful, to hide its true colours.
These are questions people of the world ask everyday. We wonder why ousting Saddam was so important. What did it take for anyone to go to Rwanda to sort their genocide. Or was it not profitable to do so. Why was Patrice Lumumba killed in the Congo (Zaire — DRC) and why is it hard for people to actually reduce their nuclear stockpiles.
Where are the WMD’s supposedly in Iraq.
Anyway, the rest of us, in Africa especially, do not want aid, but want to be free from the shackles of the West, and I mean it. contries service debts which grow even though nothing more is being lent to us. For all the damage inflicted on us, we are yet to see a dime in reparations. (Yes slavery, and colonisation – this goes for most western countries) But that is not the issue. I hate that we are forced to fight a losing battle everyday. We are asked to open our economies to free trade, but the doors remain firmly closed on western doors. we are given quotas for trade because we are weak, and we accept it because we are at a disadvantage. I think the biggest problem is that they do not understand us, and do not care, so we stop caring too.
The Russians defeated Hitler. We helped, but they did the overwhelming amount of the fighting. Something like 80% of all combat casualties inflicted on Nazi’s came at the hands of the communists.
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things.
We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes.
These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, over-weight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.
Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever. Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side. Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.
Remember, to say, “I love you” to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you. Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again. Give time to love, give time to speak, and give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
– George Carlin : Post 9-11
You can go around in circles with left and right polotics…
George Orwell was right… they merge into the same if you let them…
I denounce its not just USA the British empire – and closer to the modern day has been doing its chunk for hundreds of years…
to me at least i see through american polotics like watching history replay over and over again… from Romans to Americans and all massive empires baised on force before…
or even watching jerry springer… its the same show every day…
I always thought jerry was american through n through it surprised me that he was english.. same goes for chaplin and
arthur jefferson i grew up accepting they were american…
but anyway.. i dont understand on the order of how things can be.. less – powerful countries – may i say look for an easyier option on passing helping others.. look at india it has enough trouble keeping itself as india…
the thing I dont understand is all these countries are investing more in USA then in themselves.. Ill give you 4 bricks to my one lets see who builds the house faster and before the rain comes..
governmental American aid… makes me sick..
its just about draining more out of any country then is ever put in… if the country even ever sees any of the promised m/billions…
anyway the thing that interests me most is not what USA are doing now but what they will do to keep their stability.. [this will effect the whole world either way]
USA = 250 million people or there abouts the rest of the world 5.5billion [thats a uk billion]…
just before 9-11-01 [not to be mistaken with 9-11-73] america had a little problem with china.. and when 9-11 happened my biggest fear is that china was behind the attack..
I do believe there will have to be a major thinking on how USA will handle not being the only true super power in the world… and being forced into 2nd…
the interesting thing is how USA will deal with itself when the $$$ does not glue everything/states together… will the act like russia now???
history is the most interesting thing or maybe the illision of history is interesting…
“troy banther”
all these observations may be correct and happening but it misses one big thing.. the past..
it observes the failties of today but does not look at the problems of the past…
check out a world before ww1…
it had less freedom… less % of the worlds population could do much about what they saw as an imposible forces…
globalisation is just the continuation of the mind game…
Well, at least one Nobel Peace Prize winner disagrees with the anti-American crowd.
http://archive.parade.com/2004/0704/0704_america.html
It takes vision and courage to undergo serious soul-searching and to favor moral conscience over political expediency. And America, in extreme situations, is endowed with both. America is always ready to learn from its mishaps. Self-criticism remains its second nature.
A major point of Szulik’s comment was found in these words:
“The real challenge…is to make the pie bigger, to challenge convention…and not hold our piece of the pie captive,” Szulik said.
Very few people I have read here have commented on those words,and very few intelligently.
In other words, by making the pie bigger – do the maths, five slices of a pie three inches in diameter is smaller than one slice of a pie three feet in diameter. The richer the world gets, the richer Szulik will get. Ditto for the rest of us.
To quote an old saying: “Think globally, act locally,” and as that is what Red Hat is doing and saying, I fully support them.
As for America and the world’s perception of it, all I will say is that Gandhi had it right when he replied to a journalist who asked him what he thought about Western civilization: “I think it would be a good idea.“
“like countless other dictators who mass murder based on color, religeon or just cause they can. ”
Look no further see how the US government treated the native americans/blacks/eastern europeans/chinese/japanese/vietnamese/south americans/afghanis/iraqis et al. Nobody is above criticism and in this case interjecting what other countries did doesn’t suddenly mitigate the atrocities sanctioned by the US government.
US has a major problem, domestically it needs to keep it’s people happy by giving a hint of “freedom” and “democracy” and on the international front, be an iron fisted imperlialist since it is about resource grab at other people’s expense. So it’s a 50/50 balanced scale for US right now, either it will have to practise (internationally) what it preaches (to it’s people) or vice versa. I’d say the tip of the balance is in favor of the latter, hence you see a day by day erosion of your individual rights. No time in history has a democratic republic ever been a supreme power.
And US is in the crossroads of abandoning it’s ideals and choosing what will be more effective in terms of controlling the world.
Having said that, I refuse to characterize what US has done in the past and future in simplistic notions of good and evil. It’s never so simple, it never is.
Nations are like committees it seems. Their behavior is largely at odds with the idealogies of its members. There are wars, (both civil and foreign), injustice and stupidity, where no one in those countries ever wants any of those things.
The problem with US’s international image at the moment is that everyone percieves that they have ulterior, non-altruistic motives for everything. So the various wars aren’t about human rights or international security, but they are supposedly about petty grudges, oil, money, domestic US politics and US imperialism.
I’m Australian and we are debating a free trade agreement with the US and we can’t decide if we are getting screwed or not. It seems obivous to us that it isn’t about a free trade agreement being logical and natural. Instead its a favour granted for services rendered, a chance to corrupt our pharmaceutical subsidies, impose intellectual property laws, and US imperialism.
The world is so jaded and cynical that ulterior motives sound more convincing than any rhetoric about a better world for future generations.
Sorry, i’m not native speaker and my English is bad.
But anyway, big picture is-
There is capitalist money what makes Lenin regime. In first, German army, then, by the way, bunch of U.S. businesmen..
And truth is, Soviets use this money to make Hitler too. Because, they need catalystator, so called ‘icebreaker’ to expand socialist revolution.
And there is nothing to compare with Soviet regime- that was an hell in earth (what about Ukraine at 30’s??). Hitler (IRL clown and freak) was some kind of liberator- for soviets. But Hitler was not very smart- this ‘übermench’ thing with mass repressions kills support very quick.
Well, and if you want to know, what about Jalta- when Sir Winston (Mr. mass murderer) and DFR *sold* East European contrys to Iossif?!? What about Nurnberg farse?? It’s known fact, that *russians* starts and feeds WWII (Molotoff Ribbentrop pact) and German invansion at 22.07 was preventive attack. And, BTW, U.S. and GB starts military help to SU far before ’41.
*All* about money, and THIS is why U.S. seems not very trustworthy for everyone. Go figure.
The “rest” of the world “hates” us because they’re jealous of our power and wealth. The europeans don’t care about Iraq, well France does (for the oil). And then you get the neo-communists like this clown at redhat that want some kind of socialist utopia.
The “rest of the world” needs to get over their inferiority complex. The United States doesn’t take its cues from a two-bit country like France.
As of today we learn that the detainee’s at Guantanamo also has been violated according to the New Zealand Herald. What else is new?
Aside from that – I’ve nothing against Redhat. On the contrary. Sad if they are feeling a pinch because of Bush’es adventures in Iraq. How about relocating to the EU?
But – get over it? That’s going to be tough – I think it’s gotten stuck. I don’t think I even want to help it get unstuck. But try yourself.
I agree that point is interesting. In my opinion, while capitalism needs scarcity to produce a profit and to produce scarcities it uses today technical means and equipments, the aim of the technique itself is not to produce scarcities and profits. It’s getting over every scarcity.
So when Mr Szulik says
“The real challenge…is to make the pie bigger”
this kind of statements shows although capitalism and technique are often today tightly intertwined, they are not exactly the same thing and it is possible to think the
realizations of a “pure and released” technique as in the Open Source. Time will tell
if this is going to increase in the software field and beyond.
Lumberg
—The “rest of the world” needs to get over their inferiority complex. The United States doesn’t take its cues from a two-bit country like France.—
Theres two problems here the US acts as if every other country is two bit…
and the second problem as mentioned china they make pretty much everything cheaper faster and probably better how is USA going to compleat.. by innovation or by force…
the great thing about non-free, corrupt, distorted markets (with abuse, torture and murder thrown in) is that they are impossible to sustain in the long term.
which is why the usa will not last.
BTW, Soviet mindset was exactly like yours
And, do not use word ‘communism’ – you know nothing about it.
What is it about a lot of USians and the rest of the world.
Because someone does not worship at the Altar of the USA, they have to have an inferiority complex.
For example this is just a short list of reasons why I think US sucks as a country
No welfare state to speak of
No Unversal Health treatment
A society very intolerant of dissent (Dixie Cicks anyone?)
The above attitude
A long list of voilent interventions, direct or otherwise, eg:Shah of Iran and Iraq in the 50’s, Chile (the other 9-11), when countries dont do exactly as the USA says
Large levels of religious fundamentalism
“liberal” is a swear-word
So no I dont feel inferior to the US, and yes my Country, the UK isn’t perfect.
i for one am sure glad that linux and othe open/free software is international. remember how clever the usa looked when debian had to distribute non-USA isos? remember when ecryption was an issue.
and france is supposed to be a “two-bit” country compared to the usa, where the dna to basmati rice is patented in new york. like i said, you can’t tell these people, but in the end – only best survives.
Do you people listen to yourselves?
My country, no, no, my country is bigger, better, freer.
But what are countries? The state is a westphalian invention that only goes back a few centuries. Why don’t we just say, “screw all countries” and let’s deal with each other at the human level.
I have no allegiance to any country whatsoever. My allegiance is to my family and my friends and to planet earth. All three I will defend the best I can from polluters and from the politics of inequity and hate.
We have unprecedented ways to communicate with each other and to remove power from the state so that the state can no longer wage war on our behalf. Image what would happen if we downsized the ridiculous Pentagon budget from its current all historical high of over 500 billion dolars? Imagine reinvesting some of that money in inner-city neighborhoods, and library, and parks everywhere. Imagine investing some of that money to create the best research center that money could buy and put all the world’s leading experts under one umbrella so that they can jointly look for a cure to AIDS.
Dare to think the unthinkable. You are not a soldier of any state. Your loyalty is to yourself and to the values of shared responsibility for the well-being of the planet and those that inherit it.
There is enough of the pie for all of us and a miser’s life ain’t worth living.
Peace.
A reason why i *hate* US Policies
By Wolf (IP: —.sea14.15.117.116.sea1.dsl-verizon.net) – Posted on 2004-08-04 01:37:20
I don’t have anything to add to this discussion, but why was Wolf’s post moderated down. It was a very good post from and American from India that made the distinction about how the American people are and how the American government acts overseas.
Eugenia, please mod this one down and up his post…