Danny Angus wrote:
Hi,
Responding to comments made about noise on the VOTE thread, and the
importance of acheiving a reasonable majority for one position over another
(in order to make the decision clearly mandated) I would like to express my
opinions regarding the name and the vote.
1/ With regard to the vote it appears to me that a vote proposing that we
either retain the status-quo or opt for an as yet unknown new option will
always be biased in favour of the status-quo.
I would contend that this issue would have been more fairly decided had a
nomination process been held for potential alternative names.
but what you're suggesting presupposes that a majority are not in favour
of the status quo. It's a bit of a presupposition to make without asking.
Regardless, I would refute your argument.
I think you actually have more chance of changing the name with a vote
structured like this - as for the initial decision all the people who
want to change the name will be united.
If you suggested 'Geronimo' or 100 other names, the 'no' vote would be
split 100 ways.
2/ With regard to the name itself I believe that it would be an expression
of anglo-saxon imperial arrogance to appropriate a cultural symbol of
another culture in this way unless it was with the blessing of the culture
concerned. That we have done it in the past, and that others may also be
doing it is no defence. Consider how you would feel should some refrence
from your cultural history be misappropriated in this way. We are a mixed
community, from innumerable different backgrounds, surely between us we can
exhibit some sensitivity.
That there _is_ a feeling in Native American society against this
misappropriation in general is clearly seen here:
"Mascots perpetuate stereotypes about American Indians, involve the
misappropriation of the American Indian cultural identity, and often
include the display or depiction of symbols and practices having a
religious significance to American Indians.
In addition, these practices are likely to have a negative impact on the
educational experience and self-esteem of American Indian students and
contribute to the mis-education of all students."
from http://www.indiancountry.com/?2700
The name 'Geronimo' was chosen democratically by the people who
originally proposed the project to Apache. They had to chose a name,
because it was a requirement of the proposal.
The use of the name does not stereotype or denigrate the individual. No
religious symbols are used.
Geronimo fought for FREEDOM.
The name was proposed as a rallying cry for an international group of
Open Source Developers who identify with this and other attributes of an
historic individual and his struggle.
Uneasiness with the fact that Geronimo was an 'American Indian' (your
terminology), is a north-american-centric emotion, probably not shared
by the rest of the world, and in my mind discriminatory. Geronimo was a
first and foremost an individual. Simply think of him as that. If all
you can think of every time you see the name is 'American Indian' then
the stereotyping is occuring in your mind, not in our choice of name,
and by classifying him thus you are discriminating.
3/ On a practical level the current name is causing division, we should be
seeking to unite opinion in one way or another, and not pre-empt concesus
by holding a vote before the community has had time to reach broad
agreement. I would stress that I have an open mind about the acceptability
of our use of the name, but also I believe that it is not my judgement
which counts, it is that of Native American society.
Exactly. Furthermore, I would put it to you that voting against the name
simply because Geronimo was an 'American Indian' and you 'think that is
what they would want' is patronising and discriminatory.
4/ Most commercial software is announced and pre-released using a code
name, a working project name.
Ours is "Geronimo". I do not believe that we would undo six months of brand
building if we do change the name, but we need to do it soon, and to
prepare the ground intelligently.
I do believe that it would damage the project both in terms of
recognition and recovery time. Source code, Documentation, urls, mailing
lists and mindsets will all have to be fixed. Doing this along with the
move out of the repository may mitigate the impact, but there will be
impact.
I would stress that I'm a great believer in The Apache Way, I have no doubt
that this will be resolved fairly and to the credit of our community, but
remember that we should consider the issues before voting and if this issue
requires a length debate then thats what we will ahve to put up with.
Let the debate begin :-)
Jules
d.
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* Jules Gosnell
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* Core Developers Network (Europe)
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