Final statement from Steering Council on politically-charged commit messages

[Alexandre Brault]

On 2020-08-18 7:34 p.m., rmlibre at riseup.net wrote:
> There are many reasons Elements is a terrible English style guide:
> https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/8520953/PULLUM_2010_The_land_of_the_free_and_the_elements_of_style.pdf
>
> I would kindly recommend that folks just educate themselves on what
> white supremacy is & how it continues in both subtle & overt ways to
> this day. Sadly, getting extremely upset after being exposed to the
> accurate term white supremacy is a symptom of what's called 'white
> fragility' by psychologists who study the social pathologies of racism &
> its long-lasting, inter-generational impacts on society.
>
> You need serious help with processing your anger if you look at
> everything that's happening in the world & bubble in anger over a commit
> message that is simply acknowledging a social ill. One of countless
> many. I do hope you get the help you need.
>
> I would also caution against relying on the idea of human rights when
> defending against accusations of being political, since they too are
> political. Life is political. We continue to this day trying to
> redefine, as a society, what human rights are, & who is considered to
> deserve them. That process is politics.
>
> Some people think that being called white is racist. Other people think
> that having their land & children stolen because of their race & being
> forced to write in the language of their captors is racist. One group is
> deflecting blame for the worst atrocities in history, the other is
> acknowledging a real problem & seeking accountability in everyday life.
>
>
> Resources:
>    A People's History of the United States:
> https://mvlindsey.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/peoples-history-zinn-1980.pdf
>    The Invention of the White Race: Volume II:
> http://ouleft.org/wp-content/uploads/Invention-White-Race-Vol2-Allen.pdf

I've not seen anyone objecting to the idea of removing the reference to 
Strunk and White in favour of the underlying message of "be 
understandable by others who may read your comments" (there were at most 
a few philosophical "what is understandable") . In fact, that is how the 
topic was initially presented.

What people *are* complaining about is the use of a commit message to 
stand on a soapbox and preach. The time to preach was when debating the 
change; commit messages, in many people's opinions, is not the time to 
espouse non-technical opinions