All FreeDesktop.org Projects Now Appear To Have A Contributor Covenant

[microcode]

While I will admit that academia is somewhat burying their heads in the sand when thinking about racial differences, I've always found this line of thinking rather dubious. It feels like someone wanting to take a belief and find an explanation for it, rather than gathering facts and then coming to a conclusion.

As someone who grew up in a predominately white area, I've known a great number of very smart white people, and a lot of very dumb ones. If intelligence varies so widely among my race, I would by default assume the same is true of others, unless given solid proof otherwise, and I find the circumstantial evidence some provide very lacking.

Let's take a positive stereotype. Everyone knows Asian kids are smart, right? They always get the best grades. But are they actually smarter than everyone because of their genes? Or do they just have a culture that promotes learning? Parents that force them to study for hours each night? That are disappointed with anything less than an A and tell them they let down their family?

I've known some people of other races that were adopted and raised by white families, and you know what? They act just like white people too. So in this case, I'm a big believer in nurture over nature.

Heritability of IQ has been extensively studied, the general conclusion is that high IQ is mostly hereditary, as even adopted kids tend toward the IQ of their biological ancestors. Given what I've had the opportunity to read, I'd venture that the East Asian effect is more likely to be caused by excess intelligence, than to cause it. That said, I don't think I've read anything specifically on that effect. Take a random sampling of folks in Hong Kong, though, and you'll find an IQ distribution shifted 10-25 points above Canada (for example). Of course, I wouldn't say that IQ is a perfect assessment of fitness for most tasks, but for a wide range of tasks it is predictive.

Anyway, I'm not a fan of talking about this stuff, because it's so silly. I would prefer to live in a world where people are treated as individuals and judged for their merits and on the contents of their character. However, as long as people are trying to distort reality to fit their narrative, I can't have that lovely world. In my mind, I've already moved on from judging people as groups.

> I've known some people of other races that were adopted and raised by white families, and you know what? They act just like white people too. So in this case, I'm a big believer in nurture over nature.
Of course! Race is not culture. Genes don't have your words and your myths encoded in them. There is no Christian gene, there is no gene that can teach me Chinese (I wish!).
I live in Toronto, line up 30 East Asians and I could tell the Koreans from the Japanese from the Han, they are distinct cohorts and without a mixed recent ancestor then it's pretty easy to tell which peninsula their ancestors lived on. What I couldn't tell you is what they think, and whether they speak their ancestors' language, or maybe a second or a third.

I don't get why this is controversial in 2017; people are mostly the same, but people are also different, and some people are different together.

[brk0_0]

You can see that people hate when they can't harass minorities anymore. Is any of these rules preventing you from coding? All of you can still discuss code and design perfectly with those rules. Anything else is just whining.

[brk0_0]

This discussion about race is useless. The problem is the following: is there a competent person who is prematurely dismissed as incompetent because of prejudice about race/gender/sexual orientation? Yes. This kind of rule provides a better environment for those who are harassed or attacked constantly (I see that a lot, stop denying it).

TheThe ruleset accept denying bad code and providing feedback to people who need it. All people claim here is utter b, since there is no reason they can't code or give educated feedback because of the new rules. Therefore, go code and stop whining.

[mulenmar]

Gotta love when posts like this bring out everyone who doesn't know the difference between:

• A Social Justice Warrior (fights for everyone to have the right to be treated like a human being, and with common decency) and someone who just wants to have "justification" to act like an asshole

or

• Thought Police (intrusive violation of privacy to enforce the authority of a select group) and ordinary people simply trying to work in peace reporting when grown men or women act like schoolyard bullies

"If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all." It's a simple enough rule. Or, Wheaton's Law: "Don't be a dick." Doesn't matter what "side" you consider yourself on -- the tribalism is irrelevant.

Don't like it, or feel it's unnatural at an evolutionary level? Grow up, it's none of your business.

Think that "those ${DEROGATORY_SLUR} should just grow a thicker skin and let me say whatever pops into my head"? Well, some people think they should be allowed to rape and kill whoever they want, too -- and society has police and court systems because people got tired of such sociopathy.

Now society is tired of this particular expression of sociopathy -- it's just taken a greater ease of communication for those suffering from it to be able to speak loudly enough to say, "This hurts for no good reason, stop it." Don't like it? Go solve the general AI problem in a way that said intelligences can, for a fee, choose to be your victims for a time and then go their own way with the memories marked to not affect their existence -- and leave humans, who are not so blessed in compartmentalization-without-sanity-loss, alone.

Past experience indicates both that I'll start babbling semi-incoherently past this, and that calls for moderation are rarely listened to by bigots of any stripe, so I'll just leave it at that.

[microcode]

You can see that people hate when they can't harass minorities anymore. Is any of these rules preventing you from coding? All of you can still discuss code and design perfectly with those rules. Anything else is just whining.

The problem arises when you say something truly innocuous and you're generally maligned by a "zero tolerance" policy because one person reported they felt uncomfortable for any reason whatsoever and you just don't have the emotional fortitude to deal with being treated unfairly by the community you helped create, it's easier to leave and not contribute. Or in the case of Libreboot, somebody is merely accused of something untoward, despite a total lack of evidence, because somebody is having a bad time in their life; and a community implodes and never recovers.

In some cases, these policies extend to things you say and do outside of the community itself, and include things which are not clearly bigoted behaviour or incitement of hatred.

The desire is not to be able to "harass minorities", the desire is to be able to say things and not live in constant fear of being recast as a villain the moment somebody doesn't like something you said, even if you meant no harm in it.

[damonlynch]

Well, you tell me. What is race, and what qualifies your hero to say it doesn't exist? If you don't back up your statements with any rationale then I don't care if he's your daddy or your long lost son, it doesn't make what he says right. I don't agree with everything my housemates say, my ex girlfriend says, or my colleagues at work say. I investigate, I go deep.

Tell me why what you're saying is true, don't pick on me for having to work full time since my teen years instead of spending money acquiring credentials.
If I'm so ignorant, then please use your ability to type whole paragraphs of text to explain the reasoning behind your buddy's assertion which makes it so convincing to you.

Here are two simple statements (among others) which you would have to adequately refute in order to refute the grounding of the folk concept of race in reality:

All black people share genetic material which causes them to produce black eumelanin through melanocytes in the basal layer of the epidermis.
Black people are considered a race based largely on this phenotypic trait, hence the concept of race is used (among other uses) to distinguish black people from other people by this trait.

Therefore, in the case of black people, the concept of race (in its use since the 19th century) distinguishes the cohort of people with genetic material which causes them to produce black eumelanin.

I don't care who you know, who said it, what feels right, or what your textbook says. Say why it isn't so.
Use your own ability to follow a line of reasoning from observations, through the counterfactual, all the way to a conclusion.

Your claims about racial difference are very easily refuted by scientific research. It's a fact that you (and yes, that means you) can share more DNA with some random guy in Central Africa (for example) than someone who looks like you from your neighborhood, because that's how genetic variation works. That a Central African might have darker skin means nothing. Using skin color as a proxy for race is baseless because two people with identical skin color can very easily be from different ancestries and geographic locations. Using athletic performance as a proxy for race is also baseless. In the 30s Jews excelled at basketball, supposedly because of their "natural" qualities, which in reality were all racial stereotypes. No basketball fan thinks about Jews like that anymore.

You have a choice. You can educate yourself or not. It's up to you. The science is clear and has been for decades. If you choose to fight it then that says a lot about you and nothing about reality.

What is Race?: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06ybg84
AAA statement on Race: http://www.americananthro.org/Connec...temNumber=2583
Why we must talk about race: http://www.sapiens.org/blog/race/talking-about-race/
Racial realities: http://www.sapiens.org/blog/race/bio...e-and-reality/

[bison]

Charles Murray's ideas are sane? There is no scientific basis to his work on race whatsoever. As Agustin Fuentes, an actual scientist and an expert on biology and race puts it, Murray's "assertions are unsupported, unscientific, simplistic, myopic, agenda driven propaganda".

I haven't read the book -- have you?

[enjo]

No, FOSS is not supposed to do anything for the community do not invent shit. Working towards inclusivity is not required because the community is already inclusive, submit good code that abides to the goals of the project and it gets in the repo, period.

Right, because FOSS can survive without a community from which to draw and pool resources including devs/maintainers/designers/advocates...? idk that sounds like a community for me and if some of those resources don't feel welcome, then that's one less resource to utilize. Obviously there are a lot of people who are fine with how things are right now but this covenant isn't even about them, so again I'm not sure why they are feeling so threatened. (i do think i know why, refer to my previous post)

and my bad, I forgot that meritocracies are inherently inclusive and any advantages inherited by socioeconomic privilege aren't relevant because it doesn't matter as long as you're smart right?

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201006/the-myths-the-self-made-man-and-meritocracy

http://www.salon.com/2015/08/09/meritocracy_is_a_massive_lie_race_inheritance_and_the_the_truth_about_the_rigged_american_dream/

Can you tell me which FOSS project says they do not accept code based on race, gender or religion? what the fuck are you people smoking? You people engage en this shit this out of malice with the aim of disrupt and seize power over others.

whoa chill bruh i aint tryna usurp ur power or w.e lol idk who you even are. I'm not totally sure where you're going with this question, but the issue isn't about projects being deliberatly exclusionary: it's about fostering an environment that is unintentionally hostile/unwelcoming to more marginal identities.

so we can see from your post that you've already insulted various identities unrelated to my argument:

Yes when is enforced by talentless moralistic drama queens such as you

invoking masculine/feminine tropes to question my credibility (suggesting that feelings and logic are diametrically opposed and incompatible)

Instead of checking privilege, check your head you suffer from a serious mental illness called progressivism.

implying people with actual mental health issues are somehow worth less than whatever you are (libertarian?), this is also just tone deaf and I'm wondering how much you know about mental health

Blah blah blah I'm full of shit and I love virtue signaling. GET YOUR FUCKING PEPSI AND GO SAVE THE WORLD.

implying that anyone who doesn't think the way you do is both full of shit and that whoa wait a sec my bad how did you know I worship the kardashian family??? I'm actually confused by this reference though I don't get it. I actually don't like "virtue signaling" (also not sure what this means but I'm guessing you mean I'm trying to be a SJW so i can feel good about myself) and almost never post online but sometimes I get tired of people saying dumb shit. I've been reading phoronix for a while and that was only my second post.

Really its just pathetic to see so many people on Phoronix spewing hate, I'm glad that there are at least some people on this thread who are calling out the many reactionary and immature responses here. I couldn't help but throw in my first jab at all the white boys (#notallwhitemen again lol), it was hard to resist. If you are actually interested in understanding why I said all this stuff (idc if you just wanna do it to destroy me w logic lol) I'm happy to discuss more but otherwise im not interested in engaging anymore atm

p.s. i wasn't correct in my last post: "hate speech" isn't a legal classification so it can technically be considered free speech unless it's also fighting words http://www.politifact.com/punditfact...nt-cover-hate/

[enjo]

No, FOSS is not supposed to do anything for the community do not invent shit. Working towards inclusivity is not required because the community is already inclusive, submit good code that abides to the goals of the project and it gets in the repo, period.

Right, because FOSS can survive without a community from which to draw and pool resources including devs/maintainers/designers/advocates...? idk that sounds like a community for me and if some of those resources don't feel welcome, then that's one less resource to utilize. Obviously there are a lot of people who are fine with how things are right now but this covenant isn't even about them, so again I'm not sure why they are feeling so threatened. (i do think i know why, refer to my previous post)

and my bad, I forgot that meritocracies are inherently inclusive and any advantages inherited by socioeconomic privilege aren't relevant because it doesn't matter as long as you're smart right?

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201006/the-myths-the-self-made-man-and-meritocracy

http://www.salon.com/2015/08/09/meritocracy_is_a_massive_lie_race_inheritance_and_the_the_truth_about_the_rigged_american_dream/

Can you tell me which FOSS project says they do not accept code based on race, gender or religion? what the fuck are you people smoking? You people engage en this shit this out of malice with the aim of disrupt and seize power over others.

whoa chill bruh i aint tryna usurp ur power or w.e lol idk who you even are. I'm not totally sure where you're going with this question, but the issue isn't about projects being deliberately exclusionary: it's about fostering an environment that is unintentionally hostile/unwelcoming to more marginal identities.

so we can see from your post that you've already insulted two groups of people not that related to my argument:

Yes when is enforced by talentless moralistic drama queens such as you

invoking masculine/feminine tropes to question my credibility (suggesting that feelings and logic are diametrically opposed and incompatible)

Instead of checking privilege, check your head you suffer from a serious mental illness called progressivism.

implying people with actual mental health issues are somehow worth less than whatever you are (libertarian?), this is also just tone deaf and I'm wondering how much you know about mental health

Blah blah blah I'm full of shit and I love virtue signaling. GET YOUR FUCKING PEPSI AND GO SAVE THE WORLD.

implying that anyone who doesn't think the way you do is both full of shit and that whoa wait a sec my bad how did you know I worship the kardashian family??? I'm actually confused by this reference though I don't get it. I actually don't like "virtue signaling" (also not sure what this means but I'm guessing you mean I'm trying to be a SJW so i can feel good about myself) and almost never post online but sometimes I get tired of people saying dumb shit. I've been reading phoronix for a while and that was only my second post.

Really its just pathetic to see so many people on Phoronix spewing hate, I'm glad that there are at least some people on this thread who are calling out the many reactionary and immature responses here. I couldn't help but throw in my first jab at all the white boys (#notallwhitemen again lol), it was hard to resist. If you are actually interested in understanding why I said all this stuff (idc if you just wanna do it to destroy me w logic lol) I'm happy to discuss more but otherwise im not interested in engaging anymore atm

p.s. i wasn't correct in my last post: "hate speech" isn't a legal classification so it can technically be considered free speech unless it's also fighting words http://www.politifact.com/punditfact...nt-cover-hate/

[codeagent]

Your claims about racial difference are very easily refuted by scientific research. It's a fact that you (and yes, that means you) can share more DNA with some random guy in Central Africa (for example) than someone who looks like you from your neighborhood, because that's how genetic variation works. That a Central African might have darker skin means nothing. Using skin color as a proxy for race is baseless because two people with identical skin color can very easily be from different ancestries and geographic locations. Using athletic performance as a proxy for race is also baseless. In the 30s Jews excelled at basketball, supposedly because of their "natural" qualities, which in reality were all racial stereotypes. No basketball fan thinks about Jews like that anymore.

You have a choice. You can educate yourself or not. It's up to you. The science is clear and has been for decades. If you choose to fight it then that says a lot about you and nothing about reality.

What is Race?: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06ybg84
AAA statement on Race: http://www.americananthro.org/Connec...temNumber=2583
Why we must talk about race: http://www.sapiens.org/blog/race/talking-about-race/
Racial realities: http://www.sapiens.org/blog/race/bio...e-and-reality/

If race does not exist, then why do e.g. does the national bone marrow donation registry require detailed racial background to help find bone marrow matches so donations will not be rejected by the immune system? [1] And why do bone marrow donation organizations state "the specification of the donor’s ethnic origin is extremely important?" [2]. Here is a study relating to bone marrow transplant success matching and success rates involving ethnic background [3].

Just as within every other species on the planet, there are certain groups within the species with certain characteristics (for example, dogs, which, having been bred by humans, have greater phenotypic variation than humans), so do humans have various groups which broadly are more likely to share at least a few characteristics. Trying to deny this is trying to serve a political narrative above reality.

[1] http://assets.cheekswab.org/img/donor-form/big/race.jpg
[2] http://www.cheekswab.org/join-the-re...ation-process/
[3] http://www.nature.com/bmt/journal/v4...t2012150a.html