Re: [Gendispatch] draft charter text: terminology-related WG

[Fernando Gont <[e-mail]>]

On 15/2/21 20:15, Jay Daley wrote:
[...]
> 
> I understand that you might think I am demanding public fealty to a view 
> you don’t hold and that was not my intent, so let me restate the second 
> part of my response to the original strawmen in narrower terms:
> 
> - The alternative of wealthy, credentialed, white people [a phrase taken 
> directly from one of the strawmen] obstructing or preventing others from 
> taking the issue of diversity and inclusivity seriously enough to try to 
> explicitly and publicly change their behaviours, makes me wary that 
> either they are racist, or sympathise with racists, or seek to diminish 
> or ignore the historic impact of racism.

I think you've totally misunderstood the point that some of us have 
tried to make.

My point has been that avoiding the use of possibly derogatory language 
should not be portrayed as "taking the issue of diversity and 
inclusivity seriously enough".

You're really underestimating the problem if you think that by avoiding 
a few dozen words you'll be making the IETF any (meaningfully) more 
inclusive and diverse.

I'm all for not employing language that might be considered derogatory 
by some (or that is right away derogatory). That's, in my book, a matter 
of respect for other fellow human beings -- not something that fosters 
diversity or inclusiveness.

Unfortunately, because of a number of structural issues, most of the 
people that would find a number of words particularly offensive won't 
participate in the mailing-lists or even read the documents we produce, 
because such structural issues prevent them from doing so.

So my comments have been a plea to put the underlying issues on the 
agenda, such that rather than second-guessing how currently 
under-represented or excluded people feel, we do our best to give them 
the opportunity to speak for themselves.

Thanks,
-- 
Fernando Gont
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