[Foundation-l] [Wikimania-l] Wikimania 2008 will happen in Alexandria, Egypt

[George Herbert]

On 10/9/07, David Strauss <david at fourkitchens.com> wrote:
> George Herbert wrote:
> > On 10/9/07, David Strauss <david at fourkitchens.com> wrote:
> >> The fact that the voters chose to penalize Alexandria lightly for human
> >> rights issues only came to light *today*.
> >
> > You claimed to have noticed, but not said anything, earlier in the
> > process, because you felt that nobody would possibly vote for
> > Alexandria because the violations were so self-evident and
> > overwhelmingly disqualifying.
> >
> > The time for you to intervene in standards for judging WM2008
> > selection, and argue against Alexandria on that basis, was then not
> > now.  For any reasonable interpretation, you were neglegent in not
> > doing so then if this was such an important issue to you.
>
> Negligent? You should look up the definition of that word. If anyone
> would be negligent, it would be someone voting on the locations without
> being aware of the human rights records.
>
> The human rights issues in Egypt have been brought up by others. Are you
> saying I can't speak because others brought up the issue, just not me?

You can speak all you want.  You are insisting on the right to
overturn the completed and announced selection process on your
personal judgement and factors, however, which is a completely
different story.

If this was important, then you should have spoken up earlier, when
there was time to factor this into the criteria, or ask Alexandria to
withdraw gracefully or prepare a statement on the issue or some such.

This is like coming up after the jury aquitted OJ and saying "Oh,
Wait, I saw him kill them!  I didn't say anything because I was sure
you'd find him guilty anyways!  Can you retry him and put him in jail
now?".

There is a little less finality or legality associated with a WMF
selection, but it's the same fundamental problem.  If you had an
issue, then you should have brought it up at the time that selection
criteria were being discussed.  It's perfectly reasonable to conclude
that your silence then has largely mooted the point now.

If this were "...but they're really cannibalistic genocidal
monsters!..." then I can see overturning anyways, but you're arguing
that the jury simply failed to account for critieria in a  manner you
prefer.

I am all for gay rights.  I was extremely happy for the lesbian couple
who I lived next door to, who got married in San Francisco while it
was briefly legal.  And I support the law changing to let them re-do
it in the future.

I am all for freedom of politics and religion, and I agree that
Egypt's government is in some important ways oppressive and unfree.

But I don't have a problem with vacationing in Egypt, or going to a
conference in Alexandria.  Neither of those things endorses Egyptian
honor killings, abuse of gays/lesbians, or political oppression.  I
suspect that liberal Egyptians want more western contact, not less.

The line you want to draw is all of in the wrong place, for the wrong
reasons, and too late.


-- 
-george william herbert
george.herbert at gmail.com