Re: inappropriate racist and other offensive material

[Evan Prodromou <evan@debian.org>]

>>>>> "DBH" == David B Harris <eelf@sympatico.ca> writes:

    DBH> Everybody who is advocating the removal of "offensive" text
    DBH> doesn't seem to take into account the author's intention. I
    DBH> don't think *any* of these authors write these things as a
    DBH> racist. I think they write them as a (possibly off-colour)
    DBH> comedian.

Hell, we can get into the politics of racist, homophobe, and sexist
jokes, if you want to -- it's pretty interesting stuff. But in any
event, "it's just a joke, have a sense of humor," is a pretty weak and
lame excuse for dumping one's ignorance and insecurity all over the
ground. Anyone who thinks a joke is _just_ a joke is kidding
themselves. Jokes are powerful and destructive things.

And, the fact is, people who use this kind of slur, "even as a joke",
come off looking like idiotic knuckleheads.

    DBH> I would advocate maintainers censoring their packages if the
    DBH> content was of a racist. But in order for that condition to
    DBH> be met, we need two things:

    DBH> a) A racist author. [...]

    DBH> b) TEXT THAT IS OBVIOUSLY NOT MEANT IN A HUMOROUS FASHION. [...]

I would advocate that maintainers can do whatever the hell they want
with their packages, staying within the bounds of the license
specified by the upstream authors. 

~ESP

-- 
Evan Prodromou
evan@debian.org