@batarski, "you cannot say that there should be no outrage " That isn't what I said. Anyone can choose to be offended and base their actions on their outrage

@batarski, "you cannot say that there should be no outrage " That isn't what I said. Anyone can choose to be offended and base their actions on their outrage (including leaving Rails, forking Rails , whatever).. That doesn't mean (a) they are right and the "offender" is wrong (b) even if they are offended, the offender should "apologize sincerely". "The reaction from DHH is in exact opposition to that of those who felt offended. Let me repeat that, exact opposition. " Why is that wrong? It is just an opinion he (like all of us) has. If he genuinely feels that he is right it doesn't matter what the degree of opposition is. He should live by his notion of what is right and stick to his view point and suffer any consequences. He has done exactly that. Of course that forces the rest of the rails "community" to decide what to do. " Would he have said the same if the presentation contained racially offensive terminology?" This is a hypothetical situation. When it happens we can deal with it. Till then let us react to what did happen and give everyone the freedom to think how he wants to think . It is the blanket condemnation of an opinion for being politically incorrect that I oppose. EDIT : to respond to batarski's edit "His reaction, at least to me, wasn't one of "I don't care what people think" as much as it was a big "Fuck you and your beliefs" to those who didn't feel how he felt about the slides." Sure, that s one way to interpret his reaction and probably valid. My point is that DHH has always been like that. He does what he thinks is right and if a community forms around his code that is great but he couldn't care less if there weren't a community. He has always said that he writes Rails for himself. In other words DHH is consistent. You may not agree with his opinions (I don't always) but I am surprised at why people find his reaction so surprising? He has never played the political correctness game and has revelled in thinking for himself and acting on his convictions. So? Way are people so surprised and horrified now? I predicted his reaction the moment I saw the original post. And I am not sure it is wrong. As to what I expect other people to do, I listed those options above. Rails is Open Source code. MIT licensed I believe. you can do whatever you want with it, including forking it.