I am not so concerned that people raise this question *on* a mailing list. What is worrying however is that this question *is raised* at all by those who are positively disposed to Free/Libre and Open Source Software.
Imagine talking about GNU/Linux (or, more often just 'Linux', the term popularised by the media, just like how it has converted the term 'hacker' into something negative) without talking about issues like freedom and the people (and their motivations) who started it all.
There are some networks -- in India too -- which would like to pretend as if GNU doesn't exist, Richard Stallman comes out of some fictional book, and that Debian is a fiction of our imagination.
Their argument is: we don't want politics.
This (the claim of wanting to steer clear of 'politics') is, one could argue, a political stand in itself. By avoiding issues like freedom, just to make this campaign more palatable to business or the mainstream, we are taking a stand which has strong implications for everyone.
Any newcomer to GNU/Linux out there wanting to get to know more about RMS, I would recommend reading his biography (Free As In Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software). I'm not sure how RMS views this biography, because in the journalistic style, it tries to be less hagiographical, and in parts critical of RMS, the person and the leader of the Free Software Movement. Nonetheless, IMHO it captures the spirit of the times fairly well... at least it helped me understand what shaped arguably the most collaborative project in humankind. --FN