Technically there was a throwaway comment in DS9 before the Enterprise episodes. I only mention it because they basically took the lines from that episode and combined them all into one story.
Is it? Or is it pragmatic rather than pessimistic?
People dont just neatly fit into boxes, to be dismissed as having singular motivation that is all completely surface level. Every single person you meet and deal with will have a complex and unique history that defines them as a person, just like you. And just like you, they may dismiss you as just some simple-minded fool who does things for obvious reasons.
Have You ever wondered why they act that way? It may not just be as you assume, that they're terrible people, but instead that all empathy and sense of community has been ground out of them by a system that punishes you for thinking of others.
If the victims (ourselves included, no matter your nationality) never do anything to fix their own situation, no one else is going to do it for them. There is no white knight coming for you, sitting on your ass and waiting for someone else to fix everything for you is how fascism takes hold.
But the idea is that, under capitalism you have to work in order to survive. Under a different system you work to benefit society, by your survival is otherwise assured.
Really depends on how it's organized of course. Hard to say now since there is such a death grip on keeping capitalism for some reason.
You absolutely can. Its just you actually have to show up first, and not focus on a single election, and vote pragmatically instead of with "principle".
This makes it seem as though this has persisted because of him and not because people on the internet constantly want to punch down while thinking they're punching up. People mock it because it makes them feel better about their own failures.
One can legitimately criticize another while still having vices of their own. This does not diminish the criticism, only lack of truth would do that.
I have plenty of personal issues I need to work on... that doesn't mean I have no right to criticize others for their issues. Especially if they refuse to even acknowledge them, much less work to overcome them.
It affects value judgments such as "We're better than you because..." but those are pointless and petty statements, and don't deserve critical thought anyways.
Does this give them any actual control over Blender development or is it just one of many groups saying "We like what you're doing, keep at it"?
Not saying there isn't the possibility of pressure because "If you don't do what we want, we'll pull our funding"... but again, if they're just one of many patrons at that level (amongst many at a smaller level) so that's not necessarily going to make that big a difference.
Are there requirements for these programs? Or can they make it as onerous as possible to disincentivize usage of said program? (More rhetorical than anything)
Technically there was a throwaway comment in DS9 before the Enterprise episodes. I only mention it because they basically took the lines from that episode and combined them all into one story.