Submission + - Linus Torvalds on insults: Respect should be earned (themukt.com) 1
sfcrazy writes: During DebConf 2014 an attendee asked Linus about his ‘insults’ mentioning one of the episodes involving Kay Sievers of systemd where Linus said, “Who the f*ck does idiotic things like that? How did they noty die as babies, considering that they were likely too stupid to find a tit to suck on?” Unlike commercial companies where a boss can fire an employee for messing things up, Linus doesn’t have that luxury. It’s an open source project; he can’t fire people. One of the ways Linus can express his frustration when some top developer breaks something is through harsh words on mailing lists, which he says is kind of hyperbole and joke. Linus also said that he is abrasive and he likes arguements.
The attendee then said he was not talking about Linus being abrasive but about respecting orthers.
There was a loud applause. Linus said, “I don’t respect people unless I think they deserve the respect. There are people who think that respect is something that should be given, and I happen to be one of the people who is perfectly happy saying no respect should be earned. And without being earned, you don’t get it. It’s really that simple.”
The attendee then said he was not talking about Linus being abrasive but about respecting orthers.
There was a loud applause. Linus said, “I don’t respect people unless I think they deserve the respect. There are people who think that respect is something that should be given, and I happen to be one of the people who is perfectly happy saying no respect should be earned. And without being earned, you don’t get it. It’s really that simple.”