Omarchy Is a Power Grab

68 pointsposted 5 hours ago
by roboterer

44 Comments

ganelonhb

an hour ago

I have a really cool idea if you’re the type to complain about software you don’t like. You can try this thing called “continuing to not run that software that upsets you.” I do it all the time! It’s quite liberating to not care about nor try to control others!

kennywinker

25 minutes ago

The same could be said about your comment. A take you disagree with can be scrolled past, no need to disagree with it vocally. Yet you did. Because you have an opinion and you felt compelled to share it with others.

Anyway, I am currently using omarchy, I installed it knowing only that dhh was known to be a jerk. I assumed that meant a linus-esque “sometimes yells at people in emails” kinda thing. So sharing this kind of post is actually quite helpful. Because of it, I’ll be installing a different arch variant next time I get the itch to try something new.

undeveloper

38 minutes ago

you should probably read the article

> And that is why Omarchy matters. Sadly. Not because of its technical merit (even though those fascists love to use the “merit” argument to fight human rights) but because of its leader, his connections and his ability to accumulate financial power. Without anyone in that ecosystem saying anything about how that leader operates and talks. And you might know the saying: If there’s a Nazi and 10 folks sitting together at a table and nobody says and does anything? There’s 11 Nazis at that table.

> Running Omarchy means contributing to this dynamic. It means willingly integrating oneself into a fascist community. Legitimizing it. Supporting it. Omarchy is a fascist project that normalizes fascist thinking for everyone entering that community (even unknowingly). The baseline has to be not to use that system. And as people who believe in human rights and dignity, in community and a tech world that can be better we need to oppose Omarchy. Need to make sure it gets no seat at any table.

bakies

4 hours ago

This is a bunch of drama that's so easy to ignore. Publishing this article is just drawing more people to Omarchy. I don't know anything about it and don't care for yet-another-linux-distro-that-does-whatever. It'll eventually settle outside the big three like all other distros.

stryan

an hour ago

It was easy to ignore before it "raised" around 15 million dollars. That's a lot of money to be throwing around a mostly-donation based ecosystem.

I'm already seeing discussions on the mise[0] Github discussions about Omarchy specific changes and designs. I'm not saying anything about these specific changes and they seem mostly distro-agnostic for now, but it goes to show how it can affect other distros/software even if you don't use it.

[0] mise is being sponsored by the Omacon foundation, which is what all this money is technically going to. It also happens to be the only "independent" tool being sponsored by the foundation, as the hyperland dev is essentially contracted by them and the QuickShell dev was hired by DHH.

anklp

an hour ago

People mention the politics, but this is mainly Ruby (and RoR) whoring out itself to AI because Shopify wants their merchants to vibe code websites. Ruby tries to counteract the declining popularity and in my opinion makes it worse. I was on the point of switching to Ruby before I found out about all this AI boosting.

Digital Ocean contributed? Typical nihilist corporation (2021 pandering to Biden):

https://www.digitalocean.com/blog/diversity-equity-inclusion...

user

38 minutes ago

[deleted]

treetalker

2 hours ago

Team ohm-ARCH-ee vs Team ooh-MAH-chee

armchairhacker

2 hours ago

Even ignoring politics, I’m sure there are more impactful ways to spend $18 million. Many OSS projects are underfunded, why not give some of that to e.g. Bevy (https://bevy.org/sponsorship-pledge/), Unsloth (https://github.com/sponsors/unslothai), or better, many small grants to many small projects?

nubinetwork

2 hours ago

If these companies wanted to donate to OSS, they would have already. They've made their decision.

diath

25 minutes ago

You are free to donate your money to your project of choice.

tfrancisl

20 minutes ago

This is such a disingenuous comment. People are allowed to be displeased with how these very wealthy people have spent their money without being told "hrmm, well maybe you should vote with your dollar!!"

undeveloper

19 minutes ago

do you have 18 million on hand

mikhael28

an hour ago

Would be awesome if people stopped throwing around the word fascist like it's nothing. I wonder if the person who wrote this had any family members who ran into real fascists during the 20th century. While DHH might be a POS at times, that doesn't make him a fascist.

edent

an hour ago

He's literally calling for ethnic cleansing. What word would you use to describe him?

ivanmontillam

an hour ago

Racist, but not fascist. Fascism is a whole different concept.

kennywinker

21 minutes ago

Yeah it’s:

> A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, a capitalist economy subject to stringent governmental controls, violent suppression of the opposition, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.

Sounds pretty accurate to me.

mikhael28

an hour ago

I do not believe he is 'literally calling for ethnic cleansing', based on what I've read. But if you would like to make that argument, please enclose 2 quotes from him that you believe support your proposition, with a link to the original source.

I would describe DHH as a narcissist. Normal people who don't have a massive ego and hugely inflated view of themselves don't get involved in these societal conversations in the first place, to even be accused of being a fascist.

itsmartapuntocm

an hour ago

"When wolves get out of control, you shoot them. When gypsies take over public spaces, you deport them. This isn't hard, it isn't cruel. It's the basic logic of self-preservation."

https://world.hey.com/dhh/wolves-sheep-and-gypsies-ba44af6a

mikhael28

31 minutes ago

The European Union is known for its Schengen Zone, which allows EU citizens to travel between other EU member states freely. However, did you know that until 2025, there were two countries who were full EU member states, that were not a part of the Schengen Zone? [1]

They were Romania and Bulgaria, the two countries where - you guessed it - most of the Romani people, colloquially known as Gypsies, are from. The rest of the EU, for a very long time, denied these countries equal Schengen access precisely because no one else in the EU wanted Gypsies in their countries. Precisely because of the disrespectful behavior they display when they set-up shop somewhere.

DHH did not call for them to be shot, he expressed that he would like to deport homeless vagrants who were not Danish citizens. If vagrancy is a crime, then deporting a criminal is not a controversial stance. It is, in fact, standard operating procedure for any nation-state in the world that can afford to do so.

However, his language and rhetoric to invoke shooting wolves (a dangerous and feral animal) in the same sentence (essentially) as deporting Gypsies is, at a minimum, dangerous and irresponsible as it can encourage vigilantism and civil violence where people can take the law into their own hands. It would have been better if he had moderated his language, however strictly speaking - this does not quality as 'literally calling for ethnic cleansing', especially when in the context of deporting non-citizens of a nation state who are accused of criminal activity.

[1] https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/news/bulgaria-and-romania-...

tfrancisl

29 minutes ago

When you have to do mental leaps and bounds to make it not seem like calling for ethnic cleansing... it's probably a call for ethnic cleansing.

mikhael28

10 minutes ago

Logical arguments can be hard to follow, it is true.

db48x

29 minutes ago

There is nothing remotely racist or fascist about that. He’s talking about behavior, not race. And deportation is merely a tool that both fascists and non–fascists alike can use. Frankly the historical examples of fascism did very little actual deporting.

gaigalas

an hour ago

> There’s also nothing wrong in more opinionated software

Except the fact that it's a breeding chamber for those "unity and identity" types of people/ideologies/projects?

Embracing diversity is messy, and it's also a blessing. There should be lots of ways of doing the same thing, etc.

undeveloper

35 minutes ago

i dont believe tech projects have a right to talk about "heritage is duty" and certainly not when the creator has made a point about being a white supremacists. i wonder when he says unity, if he means the non-white he complains so much about explicitly in his article "as i remember britain"

s08148692

4 hours ago

This author seems a tad obsessed. 15 times they threw the word fascist around. DHH certainly has some controversial views that many (including myself) find distasteful, but the idea that he will use his funding to suppress and take funding from politically opposed founders and push fascism is nothing short of conspiracy theory.

Use Omarchy if you like the OS. Don't use it if you don't like it. A political analysis of the founders and leadership behind every product you use must be an exhausting way to live your life

tfrancisl

27 minutes ago

If you think him getting money from Jack Dorsey and Michael Dell has no political implications, I have a bridge in Brooklyn and a tower in Paris to sell you. This isn't conspiracy theory, this is following incentives.

We should be aware of the motivations of the software we use. This is why we've had licensing fights for decades.

user

4 hours ago

[deleted]

tonnydourado

4 hours ago

He's on the record supporting Tommy Robinson, who is one of the most prominent fascists in England. He's on the record calling for "remigration" (which is a specific word with specific meaning and context, it's not just synonym for deportation, it's a fascist dog whistle).

I think that's plenty evidence, I'm not waiting for him to tatoo "I am a fascist" on his forehead.

Also, a minimum awareness of the politics of the people producing the stuff you use is actually pretty necessary when fascism is on the rise all around the world. Might be exhausting, sure, but it's better than the alternative

user

an hour ago

[deleted]

gropo

43 minutes ago

[flagged]

watwut

an hour ago

I agree that "some controversial views that many find distasteful" is not the same as being fascist.

And well, DHH is fascist.

froggertoaster

an hour ago

What is a fascist?

watwut

37 minutes ago

Is that even a good faith question? It is not like it was an obscure word.

undeveloper

32 minutes ago

fascist

noun

fas· cist also ˈfa-shist

or Fascist, plural Fascists : a person who advocates or works to further the aims of fascism : an adherent of or participant in a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and forcible suppression of opposition

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fascist

froggertoaster

an hour ago

I'm hoping that this is getting upvotes for the obvious and disingenuous use of the term "fascist", which apparently has lost all meaning.

gwt4life

4 hours ago

DHH is not a fascist, he is an attention seeker with a reality distortion field. An RDF is of no use unless you say edgy things. The author is being played by writing an article like this. Its exactly what DHH wants.

undeveloper

20 minutes ago

i dont think its actually important if DHH is really, in his heart of hearts, is a fascist --- what he is doing is spreading white supremacist, anti immigrant, nativist literature -- in combination. i think if you think liberalism (as in american revolution, the english bill of rights, modern democracy, etc) is valuable, you should probably oppose fascism, the ideology of those who reject liberalism and would like to go back.

https://world.hey.com/dhh/wolves-sheep-and-gypsies-ba44af6a

https://world.hey.com/dhh/three-sacred-cows-that-must-die-so...

cyanydeez

2 hours ago

being indistinguishable from a fascist is, surprisingly, still fascism.

Its like when a couple of nazis show up at your bar and you dont through them out. Welp, now you're a nazi bar.

The real world requires proactive protection from these people. That's reality of where we are today.

ivanmontillam

an hour ago

> Its like when a couple of nazis show up at your bar and you dont through them out. Welp, now you're a nazi bar.

That logic doesn't follow, sorry.

You can be inclusive, yet not become the thing you're inclusive to. That's a mental stretch.

kennywinker

15 minutes ago

Including people who are violently un-inclusive is just being violently un-inclusive with an extra step.

Like, there are a lot of world views and opinions that can be included without damaging the space, but nazism is very clearly not one of them. Fascism and the authoritarian forms of communism also fall under this heading.

gropo

41 minutes ago

That's the political crux of this thread.