Re: A contribution to ongoing terminology work

[Dan Harkins <[e-mail]>]

On 4/5/21 8:02 AM, Carsten Bormann wrote:
> On 2021-04-05, at 15:53, Keith Moore <[e-mail]> wrote:
>> No, I'm troubled by how the IESG arbitrarily used the Guidelines for Conduct as an excuse to suppress criticism and dissenting voices in order to promote its political agenda while at the same time violating those Guidelines.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griefer

   So now we're back to making assumptions about intent?

> More gravely speaking, the founding principle of the country I’m living in is that one needs to be vigilant against attempts to destroy its freedom.  I fully subscribe to this principle, even if it means that Nazis don’t get freedom of speech here.

   Nazi/Hitler references are the laziest of tropes and Germans don't get
a pass, sorry. Please try better next time.

   If you only support speech you agree with then you don't support freedom
of speech. How are you going to know that an idea can destroy freedom unless
you are free to discuss it?

   Now, regarding the drafts.... We have been told that race should be
discussed first and foremost in TERM [1]. We have been told that
"anti-racism" is in our future [2]. Now, what is anti-racism? Well,
it's active work done by a select few to make sure outcomes are, in
its eyes, "equitable". It's basically discrimination to correct for
(alleged) past discrimination-- "the only remedy to past discrimination
is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination
is future discrimination." [3]

   How would that work in an organization like the IETF that does not
have the most "equitable" of makeups in any dimension? That was what
the "Intersectional Dots" draft was supposed to address. Yes, it was
crude. But it was lampooning the belief that this is necessary by
attempting to discuss how it would be put into practice.

   It was done in the spirit (even though execution fell far short) of
Harrison Bergeron [4], that hilarious short story by the brilliant
American writer Kurt Vonnegut where the "Handicapper General" works
to put weights on the legs of fast and graceful people and earpieces
that buzz disturbing sounds into the ears of smart people in order to
ensure there is equity. Final, glorious equity.

> (OK, the amount of transfer effort needed to translate these principles to what’s going on in the IETF right may be high — IETF is no country, but the point is that not every dissent is noble and deserves protection.  That is not an easy line to ride, but relitigating ad nauseam every decision the IESG makes to protect the IETF is not productive.  The submitter has even made known that he now considers his contribution rushed, and has apologized!  My mother would have said: Schwamm drüber.)

   Whoa, hold your horses there. I apologized to Lloyd for any grief he
might've gotten by people who erroneously thought he wrote them due to
"Les White" having the same initials as him.

   If you want an apology, let me give you a classic non-apology 
apology: I'm
really sorry people can't joke about stuff that truly deserves mockery. I'm
sorry that a pernicious religion has swept the IETF and claimed adherents.
And I do apologize for not spending more time on the drafts to make them
better before publishing. I think it was you mentioned that the Pronouns
draft would've been better without the table and accompanying text. I agree.
Too bad there won't be an -01.

   regards,

   Dan.

[1] 
https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/gendispatch/VknAFJsjSCtKNiHHUFKpX_kj608/
[2] 
https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/gendispatch/AZXFpynMrCOUCBxaa8-l77XfQcI/
[3] 
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/11/andrew-sullivan-the-intersectional-lefts-political-endgame.html
[4] http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html

-- 
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to
escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius