Technology is political.
If your project or organisation has a “no politics” clause, you’re saying you’re happy to exclude people whose very existence is political in our societies.
It’s only defensible if you’re coming from a place of privilege where the dominant politics are to your advantage so you can take them as given.
There is no such thing as “no politics”; there is only “no politics other than the politics of the status quo that I benefit from, which I’ve internalised as normal.”
@aral Everything is political, it's one of the facets that most man-made things have.
Why does the US and Japan have the same outlets? Taiwan too? And the power standard is mostly the same? 🤔
Why do TVs scan left to right? Does it have anything to do with how English is written? 🤔
@aral
Let me give you the other side: I suspect that the developer here wants to code with the least amount of noise. Such an issue with lots of noise from non-contributors does not help.
Feedback from users and/or developers that this bothers them is useful. Polite feedback as to why it matters to potential contributors may also help.
Lots of noise only serves to have the developer dig in further.
@aral This is true. No politics is only possible from a position of privilege
Still, people do sometimes get tired of politics. And their internal motivations for doing things often exclude politics
I've often said that #woke is the greatest ideology of all, but at the same time it is also so incredibly difficult that no person in this world can pull it off all the time
This is why I call for wisdom, and compassion for those who cannot see their own error. Turning them against woke is worse!
"they" doesn't really makes sense there. It should be "it", right? The pronoun refers to the user "anon", that is not a representation of a person.
@aral Alternatively "no politics" could actually mean straight up that at no point no political discussions, opinions or anything is allowed within the spaces of the community. "No politics" combined with an absolute "no discrimination" clause is exactly what I think most communities should adopt.
(Anyone can feel free to reply to share their opinion.)
@aral My teenage daughter told me she’s “not into politics” — which is hilarious because she lives in the SF Bay Area and just doesn’t realize what politics is.
I asked her if she thought her friends should be able to choose their pronouns.
“Well, that’s just being kind, not politics.”
@aral
Like the old saying goes:
There are two races - white and political.
There are two sexual preferences - straight and political.
There are two genders - men and political.
@aral Female hair is either long or political. Sexual orientation is either heterosexual or political. Gender identity is either cis or political. Clothing is either gender stereotyped and boring or political. City infrastructure is either car-focused or political. Energy is either fossil fuels or political. Education is either white christian propaganda or political.
Everything follows the same pattern, tech included.
@ix9 @robparsons @aral @dawngreeter Conflict is about nothing but power: allow the powers-that-be to enforce the status quo that they are happy with; and - voila! - no conflict!
Conflict can also be avoided or addressed in other ways; but those involve work from the aforementioned powers, & sometimes even change 😱😱
A powerful and effective weapon used by opponents of change is discomfort. Opposition to equality for gay men has the easiest access to this. All anyone has to do in order to make everyone in the room want to talk about something else is say, "We don't want someone's agenda shoved down our throats."
Funny how that metaphor comes up every single time, but almost never for any other issue, eh?
Well noted.
@diebarschlampe @ix9 @aral I feel like there's room to discuss approaches to moderation as separate from the "no politics" bullshit.
Cryptofascists have very successfully weaponized "no politics, please" approach as both a way to shut down even basic recognition that various minorities exist AND as a way to make shouting "kill all trans people" somehow equally political as a game having a character that is trans.
@diebarschlampe @ix9 @aral I hear you. You're not wrong that it is a problem. I certainly don't have a blanket working solution.
But, if taken at face value, this argument literally circles right back to nazis wanting to kill trans people is equal to trans people existing.
And just to be super clear, I am in no way saying this is your point. It is just what "no politics" always amounts to. Though I certainly wouldn't fault anyone for not wanting to be the person adjudicating that online.
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