The Atheist Blogger

My previous post about an unknown neighbour with an unencrypted wireless network has provoked some negative comments. People have said I was “stupid” for calling the neighbour an idiot for leaving a network unencrypted. They reasoned that this neighbour might have been very generous, and intentionally left his network open so people could connect and use it.

JamesM said:

Being a generous sole he has decided to setup an open wireless router so others may use the service too.

…

Calling some one an idiot for being generous shows how small minded and stupid you are. Happy to much of others but too intellectually tight fisted to return the favor.

The work of a small and selfish mind. Maybe next time you will see an open network and think, hay, what if the world were like this? What if I shared my connection and encouraged others to do the same?

Hittman said:

It’s always dangerous to assume you know someone else’s motivation. My first thought, reading this post, was that he decided to be generous. And you decided to insult him for it. YOUR ridiculous beliefs, about him, are based on nothing but assumption.

At this point I should make it clear that I never even mentioned or “assumed” anything about the motivation of my neighbour in the article. I assumed nothing, my commentators assumed he was generous. Now lets look at the facts.

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