In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Judy Wellner says...
>
>JTK wrote:
>
>
>> You are exposing your ignorance of history my friend.  Communism is Marxism
>> bastardized into dictatorship.  Nothing more.
>> 
>>>>And you think it's OK for Mozilla to be associated with that.
>>>>Jinkies.
>
>
>Well, there's this restaurant in Hungary called Marxim. Its logo is a 
>five pointed star and it has all kinds of communist symbols mounted on 
>the wall. Even the menu is full of phrases reminiscent of the communist 
>era. They have excellent pizza, and people love the place.

'course they do, they're... hungary.

BAHHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAA!!!!

NOW THAT IS GOOD HUMOR!

> Nobody finds 
>the design offensive.

Nobody that goes and spends their money there, anyway.

> Approaching serious matters with some irony can be 
>very powerful.

Only if done with subtlety and/or skill (q.v. myself).  And when the serious
matter in question is identifiable.  Not when done in a Gallagheresque[1][2]
fashion.

[1] I get credit for coining this term, forevermore.
[2] For those blessed few out there who don't know, Gallagher (sp?) is a US
'comedian' who's entire schtick is smashing watermelons with a mallot.  No
reason for this smashing has yet been identified, but we have top men working on
it.  On behalf of the United States of America, I apologize for the existence of
this man.

> Especially in design. It makes people think.

Right - it makes me, and many other people, think "what's with the commie
graphics?"

> When we use 
>a symbol we don't just associate it with one specific connotation.

In many instances we do, and in many instances that was the intent of the
artist.  You cannot sit there and tell me that if I whipped up a banner for
Mozilla thus:

- White border, red field.
- Two black swastikas (any non-Nazi orientation) on circular white fields at
either end.
- The following text in the middle: "The Final Solution to the Browser Problem"

that you yourself would associate it with anything else but Nazi Germany, and
woudn't be calling for my head on a pike.  Yet *none* of those symbols listed
have any association with Nazis.  Why, the colors are just colors, right?  Used
all over the world for all manner of purposes, right?  Why, swastikas are
*Hindu*, not German!  Why, even the text is non-German, it's *English*!  So by
your own statement, *your* criteria, it couldn't *possibly* be associated with
Nazis.

Right?  Hello?

But apparently Stalin's purges, religious and political persecution, Falun Gong
members and Christian preachers never seen from again, US Navy personnel being
held hostage, that's all "trendy" and "hip" and "in-your-establishment-face"
now, so anyone who asks "Why do you choose to associate yourself with such
oppression?" gets but a blank stare and a bunch of wet-tissue arguments. 

> (The 
>history of the five pointed star did not begin with communism. check out 
>http://www.symbols.com/encyclopedia/28/2825.html)

Uh, yeah, I kinda had an inkling that Lenin didn't invent the five pointed star.
Come on.

>But even if the Mozilla 
>star was a straight reference to communism

Take a look here:

http://www.mozilla.org/banners/

and tell me with a straight face that most of these banners don't have "Made In
China" stamped across them in big red letters.  And tell me that the big red
star in some of them != Gallagher's Sledge-O-Matic.

WAIT!  I just noticed something new myself!  Only ***TWO***, the big ones at the
bottom that are least likely to be used as banners due to their aspect ratio,
ONLY THOSE TWO HAVE THE DINOSAUR IN THEM!

BAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAAA CHARADE YOU ARE!!!!

> it would still not make the 
>organization itself extreme left wing. :-) I don't think anybody 
>concludes that the pizzeria in question is run by communist 
>sympathizers.

My "Politburo" remarks are not intended to carry any connotation of political
handedness, only method of operation.

> You just go there, laugh at the wording of the menu, laugh 
>at the Lenin posters, eat some damn good pizza, and feel ok.

Bet they don't get a lot of business from survivors of The Great Terror.

--
JTK
"One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statement" - Maozilla Politburo

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