Re: Asking for Calm
Sam Hartman - 01.01.20, 15:59:31 CET:
> >>>>> "Martin" == Martin Steigerwald <martin@lichtvoll.de> writes:
> Martin> Dear Sam.
>
> Martin> Sam Hartman - 31.12.19, 15:37:09 CET:
> >> folks, emotions are very high at the moment. It would really
> >> help if
> >> you could let the discussion die down. If there are issues
> >> that you
> >> need to address, please reach out to da-manager, the
> >> listmaster, DPL,
> >> the community team, or anyone else who you think will hear you
> >> and
> >> give you the help you're looking for.
>
> Martin> […]
>
> >> We want to hear people even when they are very upset.
> >> Similarly, we
> >> don't want people to be provoked into being so upset that they
> >> cannot
> >> be heard.
>
> Martin> How does that go together, Sam?
>
> I think there is a time and a place for everything.
> Sometimes, when people are really upset, it is hard for them to
> constructively hear something.
> Sometimes when they are upset it is hard to connect with empathy and
> in your terms mutuality.
> And so taking some space in time can gain the distance we're going to
> need to hear each other later.
Okay, I can go with that.
> And yet, even at those times, some issues need to be dealt with
> urgently.
>
> If you feel there is something not right going on and you need help
> with it, I'm trying to give some options that allow you to reach out
> without escalating emotions here on the list.
My point is here is that the GR started in the public, has been
discussed in the public, has been a public election, yet I felt you
suggested that what happened after the voting conduction should be moved
to private space. This did not feel right to me.
> Martin> How is going to say "I feel hurt about the outcome of the
> GR" – Martin> personally I am not even sure whether I do – or "I
> think the GR did not Martin> serve the highest good of Debian" or
> something like that which is Martin> *respectful* and within the
> bounds of Code of Conduct, suddenly not Martin> acceptable anymore?
>
>
> I'd like to be heard differently.
> My focus was not intended to be on the GR so much as the thread about
> diversity and the CoC and things that happened on that thread.
Ah, I see. I did not get that. Your post did not state what it relates
to.
I read quite some of that discussion, however I felt scared to write
even a single mail on those topics. I felt that it would be way too easy
to be writing something that would hurt someone or would be
misunderstood – even tough it may just be due to a lack of
understanding. Especially as I had only rare contacts with transgender
people, or people with a sexual identity as just male or female. On the
other hand I feel I am not "just" male as well, so… and I read more than
once and felt more than once that sexual identity can be fluid. I
certainly agree with using the pronoun someone likes to be addressed
with.
Related to diversity and CoC discussions I have no opinion about your
suggestion. I dropped reading them as I found it hard to endure, cause
from what I saw they contained a lot of accusations. I consider myself
to be incarnated into a highly sensitive person, so I think I better am
careful. You may very well have had a point to make here. I agree that
on heated discussions especially when language being used becomes
violent, stepping back and welcoming the emotions on my own can be very
helpful before I engage again.
> However, as I understand it, the GR is important to you, and now that
> we have the misunderstanding of focus out of the way, I'd be happy to
> chat about the GR.
>
> For the GR, I think now is a time of emotions.
We agree there then.
> I would request that you not focus on discussing whether the GR was a
> good idea or will benefit Debian at this time. I think that people
> have strong feelings, and those feelings will get in the way of any
> analysis of those issues.
I am okay with leaving the discussion whether the GR was a good idea or
will benefit as it. I shared my doubts but I will be very happily be
proven otherwise. I am just very sad, that a very notable contributor to
sysvinit already decided to leave Debian as a result of the GR. I sought
to express that.
> I request that you consider whether the community would benefit from
> connection and understanding of these feelings more than cost-benefit
> discussions at this time.
>
> I think those discussions will be more successful later.
>
> If I'm hearing you correctly, you're saying that you are upset when
> you think about some of those discussions not happening. You need
> open communication and are afraid/otherwise upset when you think
> about views being silenced.
> Is that a good summary of what I'm hearing?
Yes. This was not only related to your post but to other posts as well.
I saw a tendency to what I perceived as attempts to "silence" opinions
or discussions.
> I'd like to reassure you that I'm not trying to suggest that GR
> discussions are unacceptable. As I've said above, I do have hopes for
> what sort of discussions we'll focus on now. But yes, respectful
> discussions of the GR are certainly acceptable.
Thank you.
Have a wonderful new year.
--
Martin
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