A "joke" in the glibc manual

Posted Nov 10, 2018 4:41 UTC (Sat) by marcH (subscriber, #57642)
In reply to: A "joke" in the glibc manual by kklimonda
Parent article: A "joke" in the glibc manual

> Pretty much anything is potentially painful to someone out there - where do we draw a line in a public space?

Drawing this line can indeed be a difficult question. Yet I bet most people would place abortion on the same side of this line no matter what are their opinions about it.

How about removing the joke because... it's not funny? That could be easier to demonstrate.

A "joke" in the glibc manual

Posted Nov 10, 2018 15:27 UTC (Sat) by Yui (guest, #118557) [Link] (5 responses)

>it's not funny

It is funny to some.

>That could be easier to demonstrate

It is entirely subjective so that is obviously not true.

A "joke" in the glibc manual

Posted Nov 10, 2018 17:29 UTC (Sat) by marcH (subscriber, #57642) [Link] (2 responses)

> > It's not funny. That could be easier to demonstrate

> It is entirely subjective so that is obviously not true.

I enjoy dark humour and I know many people who do. However that's always been in private with close friends and typically late at night under some "influence". I have never, ever met anyone who would find dark humour funny completely out of blue and alone while reading software documentation. The only way to find this joke funny in such a situation is to be completely foreign and oblivious to the _psychological_ pains of abortion. That's consistent with the absurd comparison with childbirth that was made at some point.

A "joke" in the glibc manual

Posted Nov 10, 2018 22:01 UTC (Sat) by Yui (guest, #118557) [Link] (1 responses)

>I have never, ever met anyone who would find dark humour funny completely out of blue and alone while reading software documentation.

Now you have.

A "joke" in the glibc manual

Posted Nov 11, 2018 1:57 UTC (Sun) by marcH (subscriber, #57642) [Link]

> > I have never, ever met anyone who would find dark humour funny completely out of blue and alone while reading software documentation.

> Now you have.

Depends how you understand "to meet", let's say I "found" a few. Clearly anything can be found in the Internet.

A "joke" in the glibc manual

Posted Nov 12, 2018 10:14 UTC (Mon) by jond (subscriber, #37669) [Link] (1 responses)

> It is entirely subjective so that is obviously not true.

Weirdly, professional comics somehow determine what of their material to cultivate, and what to cull. So there is some basis upon which jokes can be evaluated.

A "joke" in the glibc manual

Posted Nov 12, 2018 22:31 UTC (Mon) by lsl (subscriber, #86508) [Link]

And yet, even the output of those "professional" media establishements can result in a reception that is accompanied by attacks on embassy buildings, flag burning ceremonies and even the death of people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_ca...

A "joke" in the glibc manual

Posted Nov 15, 2018 11:55 UTC (Thu) by Zolko (guest, #99166) [Link] (1 responses)

> Yet I bet most people would place abortion on the same side of this line

and how would the removal of a hidden joke about abortion change this if the name of the function remains abort() ? This thing is *NOT* about hurting people but about political correctness, in other words censorship, self-censorship in this case, which is clearly a core motive behind GNU and LibC. Stallman is right in defending this issue.

A "joke" in the glibc manual

Posted Nov 15, 2018 15:02 UTC (Thu) by marcH (subscriber, #57642) [Link]

If you're actually interested in the answers to your question (I doubt it) jut try to read what most other people wrote. You won't agree with any of it but make at least a genuine effort to understand bits of what others think.