[Wikimedia-l] Internet Defense League RFC

[Tom Morris]

On Thursday, 28 June 2012 at 18:30, Philippe Beaudette wrote:
> Recently, the Wikimedia Foundation was approached by the founders of an
> organization called the Internet Defense League, which is soon to be
> launched. The founders would like the Foundation to join the League.
> However, the online community as a whole is the heart of this proposed
> grassroots movement and therefore, the Foundation would like guidance from
> the community as to whether or not the community feels the Foundation
> should join this effort. Please let the Foundation know how you feel at <
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requests_for_comment/Internet_Defense_League>.


There's nothing wrong with the mission of defending the Internet.

But… holy moley, the NAME!

The best-known "defence league" these days is the English Defence League (EDL), which Wikipedia describes as "a far-right street protest movement which opposes what it considers to be the spread of  Islamism, Sharia law and Islamic extremism in the United Kingdom". As the Wikipedia article describes, they have been associated with acts of violence and anti-social behaviour that have led to arrests.

Their standard modus operandi is to turn up in some minor provincial town in England, stir shit up, march around making prats of themselves and wasting considerable police time with minor acts of violence while talking a big game about stopping the spread of radical Islam.

A certain Anders Behring Breivik, he of killing-a-whole-bunch-of-Norwegian-teenagers fame, cited the EDL admiringly in his book-length manifesto.

To say the name is sub-optimal is a major understatement.

--  
Tom Morris
<http://tommorris.org/>