On Sat, Mar 20, 2004 at 01:12:26AM +0100, Benj. Mako Hill wrote:
IIRC, the point Susan brought up at Debconf2 after the numerous "so easy your grandmother can use it" references was, "why always the "grand*mother*?" Fact is, these little references paint the person as stupid, or unskilled, or somehow "weaker" (pick the term that's right if you don't like these but it's clearly not a good thing). In our society, we tend to have an easier time making that kind of comparison to women than men. Grandfathers are hardly more likely to be ubergeeks but they're not the ones that end of as the poster child for cluelessness.
Some people can't see the forest for the trees. If you look for negativity, you will always find it. Try this other perspective: we all love our grandmothers so much, we want to help them get on the internet and use Linux, whereas we don't really care if grandpa does, because he is old and crotchety. Yes, you should indeed complain about the "so easy your grandmother can use it", but not because it discriminates against women; rather, because it discriminates against men. Jonathan -- Address: 13685 Hilton Road, Surrey, BC V3R5J8 (Canada) Contact: 604-951-4142 (between 7am and 10pm, PST) Website: http://reactor-core.org
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