Technology is political.
If your project or organisation has a “no politics” clause, you’re saying you’re happy to exclude people whose very existence is political in our societies.
It’s only defensible if you’re coming from a place of privilege where the dominant politics are to your advantage so you can take them as given.
There is no such thing as “no politics”; there is only “no politics other than the politics of the status quo that I benefit from, which I’ve internalised as normal.”
@aral I'd say many people do that without malice. They are just so used to the privileged position they internalised as normal (which society promotes) that they are unable to realize what they're doing.
Some are even very receptive when you show them that, and turn into quite powerful allies.
@Sh41 @aral That's their problem, though, and they shouldn't make their ignorance the problem of marginalized folks. The effect is the same regardless of whether it's with malice or not.
By all means, if you can afford the time and energy, try and turn people around, because yes, it's often possible. But it's not a thing you can expect of anyone else, and it's not helpful to raise it as a 'defense' against this sort of criticism.
