[Foundation-l] Concern for the safety of Wikimanians in Alexandria

[Brian Salter-Duke]

On Thu, Mar 06, 2008 at 11:15:58AM -0500, Marc Riddell wrote:
> on 3/6/08 10:58 AM, Mike Godwin at mgodwin at wikimedia.org wrote:
> 
> > 
> > Marc Riddell writes:
> > 
> >> Thanks, Chad, for your clarification. I am frankly amazed by the
> >> decision to
> >> hold the event in Alexandria. Given what has been said about the
> >> cultural
> >> and social attitudes toward homosexuality; it would be like having a
> >> sponsored gathering in 1950s Birmingham, Alabama, and telling the
> >> African-Americans not to "flaunt their blackness". It is one of the
> >> most
> >> insensitive decisions I have heard an institution make in a long time.
> > 
> > I want to be clear about one point -- no one at the Foundation has
> > urged anyone not to "flaunt" anything at Wikimania.
> > 
> > There is plenty of reason to believe that all sorts of expressions of
> > affection between men or between women are acceptable public behavior
> > in Alexandria (as in many other cultures).  As I've said, I'm
> > consulting with a number of sources to obtain good guidelines for all
> > of us to follow. I hope to have further useful information soon.
> > 
> > 
> > --Mike
> > 
> Thank you for this, Mike. I still am, however, puzzled why the decision was
> made to hold a major, sponsored event in a place where a sizable portion of
> the guests are not welcome; and, in some cases, are treated with hostility.
> Is this not condoning bigotry?
> 
> Marc

Think of it as an exercise in NPOV. If Wikimania is always in a country
where we are as totally comfortable as we would be at home, we might not
learn to appreciate that people do have other points of view.

Brian.
 
> 
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-- 
          Brian Salter-Duke            b_duke at bigpond.net.au  
               [[User:Bduke]]  mainly on en:Wikipedia.
           Also on fr: Wikipedia, Meta-Wiki and Wikiversity