RE: [Offlist] IESG Statement On Oppressive or Exclusionary Language

[S Moonesamy <[e-mail]>]

Hi Barbara,
At 02:09 PM 29-07-2020, STARK, BARBARA H wrote:
>The sort of "language policing" you describe is 
>where the people in power prevented people not 
>in power from expressing their views and 
>opinions. It is not about the people in power 
>policing their own language so as not to 
>(intentionally?) oppress people not in power. 
>The powerful regimes you reference were very 
>effective at selecting words to maximize oppression – and theyy knew it.

In my opinion, the two persons who commented 
about "language control" probably have a better 
understanding of how it was applied at their locations.

>IETF is powerful. The people who are able to get 
>RFCs published are powerful. The suggestion 
>being made in this thread is that the IETF 
>proceed in a way to minimize oppression of 
>marginalized communities that IETF's words might 
>cause. I don't think outright bans are useful. I 
>do think it's a good idea to ask authors to make 
>conscious decision to use words that we know 
>communities of  marginalized people say harms them.

I don't see being listed as an author of an IETF 
document which was published as a sign of 
power.  If that was the case, I would not be 
sending comments as a reviewer of a draft.

I would give Ms Knodel and Mr ten Oever credit 
for writing about a topic which some people might not like discuss openly.

People who are at the periphery of what is 
described as "community" are sometimes told that 
"we have a mailing list" if you are unable to get 
to a meeting.  Sometimes, the question is 
ignored; I guess that it is for "language control".

>Language matters, as the debate over such things 
>as Texas schoolbooks * shows us. It can be as 
>insidious as the order in which things are 
>presented, omission of select information, and 
>use of passive vs. active tense (so no-one and nothing gets

I am not familiar with the Texas schoolbooks 
debate; I vaguely recall reading about a 
schoolbooks issue which occurred in the United 
States several years or more ago.

Regards,
S. Moonesamy