[Numpy-discussion] Adoption of a Code of Conduct (original) (raw)

Matthew Brett matthew.brett at gmail.com
Wed Aug 1 11:33:25 EDT 2018

Hi,

On Wed, Aug 1, 2018 at 4:12 PM, Nathan Goldbaum <nathan12343 at gmail.com> wrote:

On Wed, Aug 1, 2018 at 9:49 AM, Ralf Gommers <ralf.gommers at gmail.com> wrote:

On Wed, Aug 1, 2018 at 12:20 AM, Nathan Goldbaum <nathan12343 at gmail.com> wrote: I realize this was probably brought up in the discussions about the scipy code of conduct which I have not looked at, but I’m troubled by the inclusion of “political beliefs” in the document. It was not brought up explicitly as far as I remember. See e.g. https://github.com/jupyter/governance/pull/5 That's about moving names around. I don't see any mention of political beliefs? Sorry about that, I elided the 6. This is the correct link: https://github.com/jupyter/governance/pull/56

As a thought experiment, what if someone’s political beliefs imply that other contributors are not deserving of human rights? Increasingly ideas like this are coming into the mainstream worldwide and I think this is a real concern that should be considered. There is a difference between having beliefs, and expressing those beliefs in ways that offends others. I don't see any problem with saying that we welcome anyone, irrespective of political belief. However, if someone starts expressing things that are intolerant (like someone else not deserving human rights) on any of our communication forums or in an in-person meeting, that would be a clear violation of the CoC. Which can be dealt with via the reporting and enforcement mechanism in the CoC. I don't see a problem here, but I would see a real problem with removing the "political beliefs" phrase. For another perspective on this issue see https://where.coraline.codes/blog/oscon/, where Coraline Ada describes her reasons for not speaking at OSCON this year due to a similar clause in the code of conduct.

I agree with Ralf. From your link:

""" But the inclusion of this language, making political affiliation a protected class, leads me to believe that alt-right technologists would be as welcome at the conference as I would be. Including alt-right technologists who display on their clothing, for example, neo-Nazi insignia. Or t-shirts printed with anti-trans or anti-Black slogans. These could easily be interpreted as protected political speech. """

That's the point. If you wear a t-shirt with anti-trans or anti-Black slogans to a Scipy event covered by the code of conduct, that would qualify as 'expressing things that are intolerant', as Ralf put it.

Cheers,

Matthew

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