Re: Continuation of my previous mail

[Kaz Kylheku (gnu-misc-discuss)]

On 2021-05-04 00:06, Rohit Dutt via General GNU project and free 
software discussions wrote:
> Just to get things straight and end the matter, what exactly is this
> "joke about _abortion_"??!! I don't find abortion anything to joke 
> about.
> Someone tell me please.

There was never any joke about abortion in the GNU C library manual.

There was a satirical remark protesting legislation that prohibits 
talking
about abortion.

That remark, under the description of the C abort function, made its 
point
without mentioning the word "abortion" at al.

"Future Change Warning: Proposed Federal censorship regulations may 
prohibit us
from giving you information about the possibility of calling this 
function. We
would be required to say that this is not an acceptable way of 
terminating a
program."

Though there is humor in it, it is serious and not simply a joke. It is 
no more
a joke than Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" is a joke about poor 
people,
or about eating children.

Framing the remark as a joke about abortion is not a well-reasoned,
intellectual stance. It's merely a populist narrative intended to obtain
agreement in support of the remark's removal.

The remark opposes censorship in connection with talking about abortion. 
 That
censorship harms women who are in a situation where one of their options 
may
be to have an abortion, by curtailing their choices. Therefore, the 
remark
can be interpreted as supporting those women.

(Notably, the remark can also be interpreted as a clear instance in 
which
Richard Stallman, stood up for women.)

Not a joke about abortion at all, the remark says that practitioners 
should
be free to talk about abortion and offer it as a choice.

Obviously, the remark would not have sat well with members of certain
demographic groups who oppose such freedom and support the gag 
legislation.