[Wikimania-l] Comments

[Sean Whitton]

On Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 20:09, Hani Morsi <hani.morsi at gmail.com> wrote:
> Those of you in the "First world" are living where innovation, access and
> decent standards of living are already existent, and most politicians are
> already doing a pretty good job of messing up the world, so what openness do
> you speak of if cultural bridges are not built at the grassroots level? Why
> would we let our personal biases, ethnocentrism and fears of the different
> or uncomfortable cloud our visions of amazing opportunities for the
> promotion of potential platforms of global understanding? You can edit and
> read wikipedia all you like, you can be an open knowledge activist, or an
> arm chair promoter of openness, but if you shy away from going out and
> bumping your head against another culture/people/environment, dealing with,
> absorbing and learning from whatever is different in the process, then you
> should ask yourself if whatever you are doing is really meaningful. It is
> very simple really, you either go or you don't, but you will never really
> know unless you go. The way I see it, talk all you like about promotion of
> openness, freedom and access in conferences in the "First World", but if
> you're serious about it, go where it really matters now, go to the
> South/Third World/developing world...whatever you would like to call it. If
> you feel that uncomfortable with it, that is understandable and you should
> stay home or go somewhere similar to home, just don't call yourself and
> advocate of openness. To you, it is probably just it's just a hobby :),
> which is still fine by me.

I would like to contest this attitude that dedication to the various
ideals we all hold as Wikimedians is only serious if people are
willing to travel in the way you describe. Sure, there is a lot to be
gained from such exposure, and I don't deny it. But not everyone is as
brave as we might like, and for some such a trip is a lot more
difficult than it is for others. I don't know if I could do it. But
that doesn't mean that I am any less devoted than people who have been
to the ideals of freedom that we are aiming to spread. I'm just not as
good at travelling as they are :-)

Sean