On Thu, 2021-04-01 at 12:42 +0000, Jean Duprat (Avignon) wrote: > Votes in leadership elections are kept secret even after the end of > the voting period for obvious reasons: by knowing that the ballot is > secret, voters can feel free to express their opinion as they see > fit. This constitutional guarantee sadly does not apply to General > Resolutions. > > The GR currently being discussed, "Statement regarding Richard > Stallman's readmission to the FSF board", is significantly more > polarizing and controversial than any of the DPL elections the > project has ever had. Due to various examples of attacks based on > guilt by association fallacies [1] and similar that took place during > the recent debate about RMS, voters may not be able to freely express > their opinion on this GR if the tally sheet is made public at the end > of the voting period. It is unfortunate that the consequences of > simply expressing an opinion may include personal attacks, ostracism > and even losing one's job, but we have seen enough evidence of that > to know that it is the case. [2] > > The nuances of why someone might decide against a collective > endorsement of the statement by the Debian Project are entirely lost > by looking at the tally sheet alone. Maybe you are terrified by mob > justice. Perhaps you disagree with some of the most extreme opinions > expressed in the appendix to the statement, including that using > singular gender-neutral pronouns instead of "they" is enough to be > found guilty of transphobia. You could even simply think that Debian > as a Project should not participate in the current culture of fear > and intimidation resembling McCarthyism more than the type of society > we all aspire to live in. > > Whatever the case may be, it is not safe to vote choice 3: "do not, > as the project itself, sign any letter regarding rms" unless the > privacy of voters is guaranteed. > > [1] https://twitter.com/sarahmei/status/1172744015885697025 > [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google%27s_Ideological_Echo_Chamber >
Hi Jean Duprat, Could you please provide any historical example of your "mob justice" ? Thank you.
