Sam Hartman writes ("Re: Bug#841294: Global Ballot Thoughts"):
> I am not prepared to override those seeking global6 either.
I don't know quite how to put this. I'm afraid that what I say is
going to sound quite aggressive and hurtful. But I think it is a very
important point that needs to be made:
By actively resisting the idea that the TC should swiftly make a
concrete and definitive decisioin, you are very directly reinforcing
the blockage which is preventing the prospective global (6)
maintainers from improving Debian.
So you _are_ overriding those seeking global (6). (TC members who are
saying nothing are contributing to the blockage too: with power comes
a responsibility to use it to right injustice, where one can.)
You've no doubt heard the famous quote by Paulo Freire:
Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the
powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.
But you are doing more than washing your hands. You are yourself in a
position of power, and you are actively using that position to
reinforce Ron's.
I know that you do not _set out_ reinforce Ron's position of power
over his victims. That is not your goal. You are trying to come to
an amicable settlement. You are trying to get everyone to be nice.
But when people are being oppressed, it is quite wrong to make the
feelings of the perpetrator a primary consideration. First help the
victims, by relieving them from the grasp of their oppressor.
This is all very dramatic language. Of course I know this is "only
Debian" and of course no-one is dying here. But the principles are
the same.
Ian.
--
Ian Jackson <ijack...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> These opinions are my own.
If I emailed you from an address @fyvzl.net or @evade.org.uk, that is
a private address which bypasses my fierce spamfilter.
