Deposing Dictators

["Jürgen A. Erhard"]

>>>>> "Gareth" == Gareth McCaughan <Gareth.McCaughan at pobox.com> writes:
>>>>> "David" == David Ullrich writes:
>>>>> "X" == anonymous being <margg at ux-ma160-18.csv.warwick.ac.uk> writes:

    X>2) The level of dissent required to change the opinion of the
    X>BDFL perhaps calls into question the 'B'.

    David> Nonsense. Without saying anything about who's right and
    David> who's wrong, or about whether the D is B or not: To be
    David> "benevolent" towards someone is to act in a way consistent
    David> with that person's best interests. This is not the same
    David> thing as giving the person what he asks for, not by a long
    David> shot.

    Gareth> More: to be benevolent is to *try* to act in a way
    Gareth> consistent with the person's best interests[1], even
    Gareth> if in fact you're wrong. So even if Guido is as
    Gareth> horribly wrong as some people here say he is about
    Gareth> what their best interests are, that's no reason to
    Gareth> think he isn't benevolent.

dict benevolent was a very interesting read indeed.  Thanks for the
(kinda, sorta) hint.

    David> Why in the world should "level of dissent" have any bearing on
    David> anything? Deciding moral issues by taking a vote is one thing -
    David> deciding what's best on a technical issue by taking a vote is
    David> silly.

    Gareth> Hear hear.

Shouldn't that be "Here here"?</sarcasm>

    Gareth> [1] I initially typed "integers". Hmm.

Hmm indeed :-)

Bye, J

-- 
 Jürgen A. Erhard  (juergen.erhard at gmx.net, jae at users.sourceforge.net)
          My WebHome: http://members.tripod.com/Juergen_Erhard
             Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com)
                     Shah, shah!  Ayatollah you so!
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