It's a widely-used idiom with no severe connotations, outside of some social media politics bubbles. AFAICT, it's completely normal and tolerated language, *including* within mainstream US-left politics—the other commenters are just wrong about this.

Example usage 1:

- "The ex-chief of staff to former President Barack Obama said Democrats are "the thin blue line" between Americans and the special interests Trump is courting."

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rahm-emanuel-makes-dark-predi... (Dec 4, 2024)

Example usage 2:

- "Defenders of Democracy: The Thin Blue Line chronicles the causes and consequences of the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol, Congress, and the electoral certification process featuring perspectives from police officers and family members of fallen officers. The film highlights the gravity of the events that will undoubtedly leave an enduring impact on political history."

https://www.pbs.org/show/defenders-of-democracy-the-thin-blu... ("Defenders of Democracy: The Thin Blue Line" (2024))

>It's a widely-used idiom with no severe connotations, outside of some social media politics bubbles. AFAICT, it's completely normal and tolerated language, including within mainstream US-left politics—the other comments are just wrong about this.

"mainstream us-left politics" does not represent the left, it represents the mainstream.

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-thin-blue-line-became-co...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_blue_line#Appearances_and...

https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/thin-blue-line-flag-is-a-...

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/09/the-short-...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-chief-bans-thin-...

- "mainstream us-left politics" does not represent the left, it represents the mainstream"

I'm not following you; the context is someone is trying to get someone *fired from their job* for using this language.

I don't see it. A lapsed maintainer's description of how, in their own perspective, an adversarial rallying cry is less than compatible with a prominent position in a collaborative setting… may be many things, justified or not.

But a credible threat it isn't. You know this, I know this, and every reader of this message knows this, too.

You're claiming that the American left has no issue with the term "thin blue line" or its context because that term is accepted by the mainstream. I provided links to demonstrate the contrary, illustrative of the fact that the American left does in fact have an issue with the term and its context, and that the mainstream of American politics and media does not represent the actual culture of American leftism.

Also the Noveau kernel is as far as I understand a FOSS project. There are no "jobs" from which one can be "fired."

So some fragile far-left activists have a grievance of the day with language that is benign for the majority of the population. So what? No one should care and the adults can continue about their day.

Across the Atlantic, for people of a certain age at least, it evokes memories of Rowan Atkinson's classic comedy series "The Thin Blue Line" about inept British police officers.

Across the Atlantic, the police won't shoot you in the head for walking while black.

At least the first quote is political and essentially casts the "other side" as an enemy rather than merely an opponent. This is not uncommon to use this strategy in political speech, and it is done rather well (and probably deliberately) here, but it is not an innocuous turn of phrase.

The second quote at least refers to a time when police had to play a defensive role against, once again, an enemy. This whole paragraph gives a clear vision of police having a military role (eg "fallen officers").

I didn't know that expression before, but the examples I see, (and its origin as an analogy to the thin red line) give it a connotation that is not neutral. The thin blue line is a metaphorical line between the maintainers of a certain order and a common enemy.

Using this expression in the context of kernel maintenance is at least somewhat clumsy.

Thanks for illustrating how insane these people are.

"Thin blue line" is a reference to police as a kind of army regiment, standing their ground against the perceived "breakdown" of social order. Its present-day use can only really be understood in the context of violent policing in the U.S. It's the kind of thing that's really blatant flame bait with its direct reference to real-world politics, and has no proper role in what ought to be a 100% technical discussion.

This gatekeeping feels weird. As the sibling commenter points out, both sides of the aisle have used "thin blue line" to refer to themselves. I'm neutral to it, and I voted for Hilary, Biden, and Kamala.

But you could be right if some people in the conversation voted for "defund the police". Those people may be enraged by a single mention of a "thin blue line" and be unable to focus on the technicals.

>I don’t get it. What does it even mean?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_blue_line

https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/[email protected]...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43043312

>It seems unrelated to them stepping down, too.

    I can't in good faith remain to be part of a project and its community
    where those words are tolerated. Those words are not technical, they are
    a political statement. Even if unintentionally, such words carry power,
    they carry meanings one needs to be aware of. They do cause an immense
    amount of harm.

But, as he disclaims in the beginning, he wasn’t actively participating anymore. Feels like slamming the door because you were leaving anyways, not because you were angry in the first place.

It rides on the wave of FLOSS contributors leaving because of something dysfunctional, and he was leaving because he wasn’t active, but makes it about something political, since it would get read because of mentioned context.

Had he just posted his opinion and not left, it would not have been noteworthy.

It isn't required that one be active in a community to consider oneself part of that community, or to be angry about something that community does. I see no reason to assume bad faith or doubt their sincerity of motive. Consider that the phenomenon of FLOSS contributors "leaving because of something dysfunctional" isn't simply a trend that people choose to ride on, but a sign of actual political and philosophical conflict within the community.

It means Ted Ts'o is entering his "win stupid prizes" arc.