Re: Code of Conduct violations handling process
----- "Russ Allbery" <rra@debian.org> wrote:
> At least in the United States, people who use the term "political
> correctness" in all seriousness as something they dislike and think is
> bad are generally people with whom you would not want to share a project
> and people who you would be best off avoiding. This viewpoint is correlated
> with racism, sexism, and other really anti-social behavior. Its most
> vocal public proponents, in the US political arena, are people who feel
> the major problem facing society is not that bigotry is tolerated in the
> public sphere but that other people dare to call them on their bigotry and
> imply it's unacceptable. Expect to see, for example, the KKK ranting
> about "political correctness."
I don't think this is true. If you believe Wikipedia:
The term "politically correct" was used disparagingly, to refer to
someone whose loyalty to the CP line overrode compassion, and led to
bad politics. It was used by Socialists against Communists, and was
meant to separate out Socialists who believed in egalitarian moral
ideas from dogmatic Communists who would advocate and defend
party positions regardless of their moral substance.
-- "Uncommon Differences", The Lion and the Unicorn Journal
As with many politically charged terms in the US, the phrase has been
warped by both conservatives and liberals to suit their purposes.
American politics is especially effective at warping meanings so I
suppose your associating the term with the KKK is an easy mistake.
It is interesting to analyze the original critical intent of the phrase
when it is framed in the Debian context. We aren't trying to
feed and clothe people so compassion is probably not the focus of
Debian as a political program. I would guess, if anything, it is honesty
and liberty. The intent of the Social Contract, as I understood it
in my mind, was for us to prevent our computer systems from being
controlled by some entity that had its own agenda. The Operating
System is an instrument created by us to amplify the potential of
our minds and our mutual contract with each other is to ensure that the
instrument is unbiased and unfettered by external controls. The
"policy compliance to the point of overriding compassion" in the case
of Debian would seem to be "policy compliance to the point of overriding
honesty and liberty".
I have complained about the CoC from its inception because it frightens
me. However, I can see that mailing lists full of endless and repetitive
debate will exhaust a rational person's desire to participate. We must have
some rules to maintain decorum. What we cannot allow is for our sense of
etiquette or manners to prevent us from being honest about the character
of the ideas being discussed. If the CoC closes the door to rational
criticism then it strikes at the heart of our effort. I'm saying it
*does* do that but I am saying that we can't ever allow it to.
One observation I will make is that "politically correct" behavior is
something I associate with corporate environments. I have done business in
many large organizations and I know how to adopt a professional demeanor.
I know enough to keep my mouth shut when the person who holds the purse
strings says something silly. I also know how to get things done in those
environments and still get software built. What I do dearly hope is that
we are not trying to turn Debian into *that* environment. If this "safe
and welcoming" place that we are trying to build ends up with the flavor
of a corporate campus then, well, I suppose we will have come full circle.
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