Loyalty and brain cells

Having once again witnessed LJ's own Patriot Act Squad in action, on an LJ news post, I am, once again, disgusted and saddened.

And I hope that attitude never, ever, ever sets in here at Dreamwidth.

It's exactly the same attitude that leads US citizens to insist that patriotism means unquestioning acceptance and, indeed, adulation of all aspects of one's country, and that criticism or the desire to change things invalidates one's citizenship and identity as a countrymember. This, of course, brings out in me a mighty need to beat them over the head with copies of Franklin and Jefferson until the typeface actually makes contact with their brains in one way or another.

Let us never, please, never fall into that trap of insisting that no one can stay who has any criticism. That's wrong. Worse, that's the kiss of death to an open source project of any kind. "Love it or leave it" is the counsel of fear, and I want my new home to stay braver than that.