What I see in these threads is the reverse. People insist that their pet solution is a panacea for every use case and when someone points out that it doesn’t work for them they get downvotes and sarcasm. Making use of the best software for your use case is not equivalent to complicity in animal torture and environmental destruction. Nobody’s being forced into constant pregnancy or having their calves taken away at birth because I feel like third party security patches for Windows will be a better option for me than fully swapping to a Linux distro.
But what is definitely happening is people stop reading pro-FOSS threads by the third rabid fanboy response and actually miss what could be a useful alternative.
I completely understand that feeling, and it was my initial reaction too, but honestly, I think they’re kind of right.
If you’re playing chess and the opponent’s knight takes your rook, do you throw your queen at it on principle? Even though it’s backed by a pawn? Or do you tighten up your own defenses and wait for the best opportunity to strike?
Don’t get me wrong, AOC and Green are the energy we need here. I don’t even think it’s a bad play for them to make as much noise as possible about Trump’s overreach, even if it is repeating the same behavior we’ve seen for decades. But if 126 Democrats voted against it, how many Republicans actually voted for it? What’s the strategic cost of using the inertia that might flip a handful of Republicans on something that doesn’t have the numbers yet?
What if we need them for a play down the line? What if we can flip more of them and actually get an impeachment instead of just proposing one on principle because we didn’t already exhaust the idea?
I think the people should be pushing for impeachment, and I think Congress should impeach him. But I want that to actually happen. I don’t just want it to be a sentiment that doesn’t go anywhere.