What stranges me out about Does Linux equal socialism? is the fact that the author seems very careful to point out that the GPL allows for profit, and that open source therefore isn’t entirely socialistic after all. The implication is that if open source [anything] is socialistic in nature, we’d better steer clear because Jesus wouldn’t like that, but thank goodness Red Hat and IBM have profited from open source since that makes Linux capitalistic, and therefore okay.
The implication being that Jesus was a capitalist, or that there are anti-socialist teachings somewhere in the Bible. If you had asked me, I would have said that Jesus was a socialist. “We are our brother’s keeper” and all that. I would have thought Jesus would have compiled his own kernel.
I can’t help it, but I always have the feeling that the average American thinks in extreme black and white categories; that he can’t distinguish between being social, being socialist, or being communist. Nor does it seem comprehensible that it’s possible to adapt the (few) good ideas the socialist countries had without subscribing to their ideologies wholesale.
Both OpenSource and Jesus (along with many other things) are caught in this trap: they are neither capitalist nor socialist, so lazy-minded people don’t know where to file them (this includes some OSS supporters as well). And I think the article is a pretty good description of how the author overcame the thinking in extremes in this case.
Either way it was interesting to read an argument for OpenSource based on bible quotes :-)
I will have to agree with Lars. There is no black and white. Greece is today run by a so-called “socialistic” party (“PASOK”), but if you actually look at the dynamics and how the country is really run, is more capitalistic than sosialistic.
There are lots of pro-socialist teachings in the bible. Christian anti-socialism, or rather, pro-capitalism, is a later development, following Calvin and Luther. For why, Max Weber’s _The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism_ is a great start.
What bothered me in this article is the guy’s idea of “Kingdom Economics” and “doing business God’s way”. He cites Wal-Mart as an example. Scary!
Eugenia, same happened here with the previous government. The so called “socialist” parties of Western Europe are socialists only by name, nothing else. Socialism as an.. “ism” is ancient, so to speak. Everyone’s a capitalist.
Jesus definately wasn’t a capitalist.
No global system based on greed. Jesus
would smash the IMF and the World bank
shouting “get out of my fathers house”.
Who wrote “The soul of capitalism”?
I always kind of figured Jesus for a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider, or something along those lines…
John Fabiani wrote:
>>Jesus would smash the IMF and the World bank
>>shouting “get out of my fathers house”.
If you re-read the story about the merchants and the money lenders you will find that Jesus’ problem wasn’t with the fact that they were merchants and money lenders (Capitalists) his problem was that they were doing business in his fathers house.
Capitalism is about freedom from the serfdom of socialism.
Jesus was a capitalist, read the parable of the fig tree; “If the fig tree bears no fruit, cut it down and burn it!” I don’t think he was giving pointers on agriculture…
Jesus was a capitalist, read the parable of the fig tree; “If the fig tree bears no fruit, cut it down and burn it!” I don’t think he was giving pointers on agriculture…
Not sure I follow – how does a general interest in being sensible/efficient translate to Jesus being pro-capitalism?