RFC: #ubuntu op misuse or not?

[Rohan Dhruva]

On Sat, May 17, 2014 at 1:23 AM, Melissa Draper <melissa at meldraweb.com> wrote:
> On Sat, May 17, 2014 at 5:36 PM, Rohan Dhruva <rohandhruva at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> On Sat, May 17, 2014 at 12:17 AM, Brian Burger <blurdesign at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 11:58 PM, Valorie Zimmerman
>> > <valorie.zimmerman at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 5:14 PM, Rohan Dhruva <rohandhruva at gmail.com>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > * ops basing ban decisions based on personal prejudice (e.g. towards
>> >> > words like blitzkrieg and dictator, drawing conclusions of World War
>> >> > II and Hitler)
>> >>
>> >> Such language is not welcome in an *buntu space. In fact, it is not
>> >> welcome anywhere on the Internet, IMO.
>> >
>> >
>> > Based on the IRC log excerpts posted elsewhere in this thread, our
>> > original
>> > poster basically called one of our chanops a Nazi and expected to get
>> > away
>> > with it.
>> >
>> > Really?
>> >
>> > No. Just, no.
>> >
>>
>> No. Seriously, no. *Nothing* in the words "dictator" or "blitzkrieg"
>> implies *anything* related to Nazism. I can completely understand how
>> personal background can lead someone to think that way, but
>> immediately jumping to such conclusion is completely hyperbolic. The
>> only person originally drawing parallels with anything remotely
>> related to German history were the two ops on the channel. Also, I did
>> not expect to get away with anything -- if that was my intention, I
>> wouldn't have stayed around to discuss or reply here.
>>
>> There have been dictators before the particular person in question,
>> and dictators after him. There are good dictators, and there are bad
>> ones. There are people calling themselves benevolent dictators.
>>
>> A simple search on Google news (http://bit.ly/S2hFaD) shows the word
>> "blitzkrieg" being used in many non-offensive contexts. Similarly, the
>> word "swastika" can evoke bitter feelings for people in Europe, but
>> signifies a religious symbol for Hindus around the world.
>>
>> Did I use the word Nazi? Sure -- but only after the ops had drawn
>> parallels to it. Was I remotely thinking of Germany (or anything
>> related to Germany) when using "blitzkrieg"? An emphatic no. The user
>> "adamcunnington" and myself tried to explain that dictator does not
>> have a Nazi implication in it at all. It is personal choice to be
>> offended by those words.
>>
>> In an international community, you have to understand that words don't
>> always mean what you think they mean.
>
>
> The thing about communication is that you don't get to decide how it impacts
> other people. You can however improve the effectiveness of future
> communication.
>
> Blitzkrieg is a term that has a political background in that its rise to
> common use is centred around outsider descriptions of German military
> tactics in WWII. It thus has a strong and hurtful meaning to people affected
> by that time.
>
> People in general have a bad habit of misappropriating politically charged
> words and you're not immune to this. It is entirely possible you didn't know
> about the impact of this word, but it has now been explained to to you why
> it is improper.
>
> If you truly weren't aware of and it truly isn't your intention to make
> people think you're associating them with that regrettable history, then the
> proper thing to do now is to stop digging your heels in about your innocence
> and instead vow (to yourself if nobody else) to improve your vocabulary for
> the future.
>
> I don't believe there is anything more of value that can be added to the
> discussion of who said what.
>
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>

Thank you, Melissa. I agree my email purporting innocence around this
is easily misread. In addition to apologising here, I will make it a
point to apologise personally to the people offended by it.

Your perspective about me not being immune to the same is absolutely
correct. Cheers!

Rohan

-- 
Rohan Dhruva