[vlc] Christmas Icon

Sun Dec 20 01:26:52 CET 2009

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and we have people here that spend
all their spare time looking at the cracks in the sidewalk and trying to
find religious symbols in them and then taking the city to court and  
filing
suit against them for "promoting religion in a public space".

I wonder if Rob is going to also complain to Google when they put a
holiday-themed banner up on their main page? Oh, just in case you want
to start cranking out the complaint letters, here are some other well
known websites that have these horrible symbols on them:

	amazon.com
	    Snowflakes
	    An image that looks a lot like a Christmas tree
	    Wisps of snow in the air
	    Red ribbons and bows
	    Christmas-themed web page design

	ebay.com
	    Snowflakes
	    Christmas-themed web page design

	overstock.com
	    Frosty The Snowman (Is he *evil* or what!?)
	    Snowflakes
	    Christmas trees
	    Red ribbons and bows
	    Christmas-themed web page design

	travelocity.com
	    Santa Claus elf wrapped in Christmas lights
	    Santa Claus elf surrounded by money (anti-semitic?)
	    Snowflakes
	    Christmas-themed web page design

	comcast.net
	    Snowflakes
	    Christmas-themed web page design
	    Shopping section that looks like it is promoting Christmas

The Internet has really gone down the toilet, hasn't it? What's next,
a "northpole.com" website? Horrors!

mike

----

On Dec 19, 2009, at 12:14 PM, Bryan Packer wrote:

> Calling it a "Santa hat" is a misnomer even, it's pretty much
> universally recognized as a holiday hat.  In america, newscasters all
> over the country have a tendency to wear them even, does this mean
> that those who don't celebrate Christmas stop watching the news simply
> because someone is wearing a hat they be leave represents a religion
> they don't celebrate?
>
> In my own city there was an annual disagreement between pretty much
> everyone, and the KKK (Ku Klux Klan) which until recently went on
> unhappily for everyone but the KKK.  As a tradition in the center of
> town a Christmas tree, a menorah, and sadly a white KKK cross, was
> displayed annually.  Three years ago the town square was leased to a
> private non profit organization, and the cross is no longer there.
>
> To put it simply, thanks to freedom of speech you have to put up with
> other peoples views, or it's not really free.  Personally I'm
> agnostic, I don't find Christmas to be specifically a Christian
> holiday (specially since Jesus Christ was born in march I be leave),
> today it's more of a commercial holiday, a way for stores to clear out
> inventory before they have to pay taxes on it January 1st.
>
> On 12/19/09, Keith Kyzivat <kamaji at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Disclaimer: I am not a member of the VLC development team.
>>
>> Your request is sort of like demanding that an acquaintance of yours
>> whom always makes delicious cake for a recurrent party with a symbol
>> you find offensive, and demanding that they omit it.
>>
>> * They publish the recipe, so you could indeed make it for yourself,
>> and omit whatever you wish, though you would need to be slightly
>> familiar with baking to do it.
>> * They aren't charging even a cent for it (though that should not  
>> matter)
>> * There are plenty of other cakes you can choose from
>>
>> On the internet, as is in some places around the world, it is
>> generally accepted that people have freedom of speech - to express
>> their thoughts and opinions.  What you are demanding is for the VLC
>> team to suppress their thoughts and opinions. That is wholly
>> unacceptable. They are not hurting anyone, and I do not see how it
>> could be considered hate speech in any sort of way.
>>
>> Sure, one could contact the ISP and ask them to put pressure on the
>> team or shut down the VLC website, however, I highly doubt an ISP
>> would do such over these matters.
>>
>> Oh, and I'm pretty sure there are plenty of VLC users that are not
>> christian that find the Christmas holiday a fine occasion to
>> celebrate.
>>
>> If you don't want to see the symbol, you could do a variety of  
>> things:
>> * Check out the vlc sources, disable or change the Easter egg code,
>> and build it yourself.
>> * Stop using vlc.
>> * Change the date on your computer.
>>
>> ~Keith
>>
>> The VLC team may be looking for help, but I imagine they would
>> appreciate like-minded help, and the product they put out shapes the
>> people that come to help, Santa hat icon and all.
>>
>> On Friday, December 18, 2009, Rob Whelan <rob-jc at charter.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> Mr. Kempf,
>>>
>>> I do not believe I ever stated that a Santa hat is a religious  
>>> symbol.
>>>
>>> What I did state is that it is a symbol for a specific holiday  
>>> that is by
>>> definition a Christian one.  A dradle is not a religious symbol  
>>> but is
>>> used
>>> almost exclusively to celebrate Hanukkah. We do not have the  
>>> option of
>>> inserting one of those into VLC. The choice to place this holiday  
>>> in a
>>> special place above others and then hard code that into the  
>>> software is
>>> one
>>> made by the development team.
>>>
>>> It would be nice to be able to disable the icon.  To emphasize one
>>> religious
>>> occasion over all others (even using a secular symbol) may not be in
>>> keeping
>>> with good global policy.
>>>
>>> Your response in assuming I can't read wikipedia and also telling  
>>> me where
>>> and where not others should see images that refer to religious  
>>> matters is
>>> somewhat insensitive and inappropriate for a team asking for  
>>> global help
>>> in
>>> furthering its project.
>>>
>>> I would respectfully ask the team to reconsider its decision in this
>>> matter
>>> and provide some means of removing references to religious  
>>> occasions that
>>> are not shared by a vast number of users around the world.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 04:23:26PM -0500, Rob Whelan wrote :
>>>> Is there a way to remove or disable the Christian holiday Easter  
>>>> egg?
>>> Many
>>>> users (myself included) are not Christian and feel that this icon  
>>>> is
>>>
>>> This is not a Christian reference.
>>>
>>> See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus
>>> and "Christians say the Santa tradition detracts from the religious
>>> origins and purpose of Christmas."
>>> and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus#Christian_opposition
>>>
>>>> Is there a way I can remove this icon from my viewer without  
>>>> having to
>>>> recompile my own copy which is something far beyond the average  
>>>> user's
>>>> ability?
>>> No.
>>>
>>> You shouldn't see religious references everywhere.
>>>
>>> Best Regards,
>>>
>>> --
>>> Jean-Baptiste Kempf
>>> http://www.jbkempf.com/
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________________
>>> vlc mailing list
>>> To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options:
>>> http://mailman.videolan.org/listinfo/vlc
>>>
>> ______________________________________________________
>> vlc mailing list
>> To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options:
>> http://mailman.videolan.org/listinfo/vlc
>>
> ______________________________________________________
> vlc mailing list
> To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options:
> http://mailman.videolan.org/listinfo/vlc