Monthly Archives: August 2020

Why do you have children?

I see some people ask others “why don’t you have children?” and I believe it’s a stupid question. Not having any children should not be asked about. In fact, what should we ask people is “why do you have children?”

We need license for many things, such as driving. However, having children does not require anything. Having children is a big and important responsibility and not everyone should be allowed to have children. Those who do not have children, in my opinion, have done their social and human duty better than others.

I believe people with no children realize how important and serious this responsibility is. Not having children should not be questioned; it’s having children that should be criticized.

With current problems in the world, having children in many cases is cruelty to that child and should be considered selfishness. We give birth to children, but we don’t own them. Raising them good is our responsibility and duty. They’re not our properties, so we can’t treat them anyway we want.

If they are oppressed in any way, whether physical or emotional, we are guilty. If they are dissatisfied with the situation they are in, we are responsible. I’m not against breeding at all, what I’m against is giving birth to children without being prepared for the responsibilities.

I also believe nobody should be forced to have children nor be forced to not having children. I believe we should spread knowledge and information about it. Forcing people to not having children is not acceptable at all, just like how forcing people to have children is wrong.

Freedom of thought is more important that freedom of software

It’s been quite some time that I’m active in promoting software freedom and free culture movement. In all these years that I’ve been active, I saw many people that use free software because they are excited about it. They are trying something new (for them) and they are interested in finding every aspect of it.

However, when I talk about software freedom to somebody and that person decides to immediately delete his Google (and other proprietary) accounts, services, and programs, I ask for patience and tell that person to not hurry. I tell those who make emotional and hurried decisions not to move fast and to move forward step by step with patience.

I believe, freedom of thought is much more important than using free software.

A free-thinking person makes decisions not out of temporary feelings but out of study and awareness. That person weighs the consequences of each action and chooses tools not on the basis of emotion, but on the basis of its long-term impact on himself and society.

A free-thinking person cares about free software because that person is deeply aware of his rights and responsibilities.

Instant decisions often lead to short-term use and boredom, while informing people and giving freedom of thought to people leads to the right choice and development of software and culture freedom movement.

Attracting new contributors and free software enthusiasts

As the number of computer users is growing, the need for free software is being felt more than ever. We see new services every day and free software developers are trying to make their programs look more like the proprietary ones, in order to make sure nobody is forced to use any proprietary software because of the user interface or possible features.

Some foundations such as FSF and EFF are trying their best to spread knowledge about people’s digital rights. However, getting people to avoid proprietary software and only using free programs is not an easy job to do.

We need more than possibility of using free software to get people respecting their computer freedom and rights. There should be benefits for people in using free software. For example, whenever I ask people to leave Google services and use free (as in freedom) tools such as Nextcloud, I tell them how more efficient and useful Nextcloud is comparing to proprietary services such as Google.

Another example is telling them how tech giants are violating their privacy and those corporations control people by controlling the flow of information people get. I tell them how using free software benefits them and gives them back their control over their digital and non-digital life by giving them back their rights.

Another thing which can attract people is that I treat them with respect. I tell them they have rights over what’s theirs and I answer their questions with patience. Unlike most proprietary software companies that treat people as “customers” or “money machines”, I try to treat people with kindness and patience. This way, they understand that free software is more humane. GNU Kind Communications Guidelines can be a good document regarding this.

Another thing that I always have in mind is to teach people how freedom of software can lead us to a free society. I teach them how their rights is being violated every day and how governments are benefiting tech giants instead of people. For example, I tell people how governments spend millions of people’s taxes in buying license of Microsoft Windows when they can use GNU+Linux for free.

Many times, I try to teach people about about their privacy and security. I teach them how free software is generally more secure than proprietary software because we can study and/or change it while proprietary software forces us to use them as is, without any ability to actually know how it works. I teach them how using free software can free them from being a digital slave.

Finally, I teach companies and projects/individuals about how they can make money from their project by publishing it under a free (as in freedom) license and receive help from a large community to make their program better and more efficient, so they can attract more people into buying it. I teach them how they can benefit from the free software communities worldwide and how they can be mutually beneficial.

I teach people how free software generally costs less than proprietary software and how free software projects are more economical for them.

If someone says to you it’s raining outside and someone else says to you it’s not raining outside, your job is not to say “person A says it’s raining, person B says it’s not raining.” Your job is to open the fucking window and find out if it’s raining outside.

Mehdi Hasan