Posted on 02/25/2021 8:58:11 AM PST by dayglored
ASF board member resigns in protest of org's online chatter 'policing'
The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) has removed Marko Rodriguez from the TinkerPop project he co-founded because his provocative Twitter posts were said to have violated the ASF Code of Conduct.
"I was removed from the project I started 11 years ago for 'publishing offensive humor that borders on hate speech,'" Rodriguez explained in an email to The Register. "However, now that Big Tech has secured the ASF board, it is a way to 'shut me up' about the monopolistic practices of Big Tech."
Rodriguez argues that "woke culture" is a creation of "Big Tech," and that it serves to protect the industry's economic monopoly "by monopolizing the ideology of the people."
Asked whether he sees the problem in light of the content-moderation challenge faced by social media services, which police speech without clear, consistent rules or due process, he said not at all.
"I like to tweet, so I tweet. If Apache likes to police tweets, then may they police tweets," Rodriguez replied. "The question becomes: do they really like to police tweets? Are they finding as much joy in policing tweets as I find in tweeting tweets? If so, then we are both happy and the world rejoices. If not, then how can we help Apache find joy … For joyless people ultimately impede those that do find joy in what they do."
In a subsequent message he noted he has received death threats demanding he apologize for his thoughts, and that those people always assume he's a Trump supporter. "I’ve never voted," he said. "I simply don’t care."
When the members of the TinkerPop project – a graph database and analytics framework – discussed the tweets, they said something along the lines of: "Marko has a non-Apache affiliated Twitter account that presents racy satire. It is not in our right to tell him he is wrong." At least that's how Rodriguez tells it. The ASF board, however, overruled the findings of the TinkerPop project members, and claimed he broke the foundation's Code of Conduct.
The board's decision to thus oust Rodriguez, a veteran computer scientist and CEO of graph and stream computing consultancy RReduX, prompted ASF board member Niclas Hedhman, one of nine, to resign from the non-profit to protest what he characterized as "cancel culture."
"When the internet was new, we all knew that a written message is flawed and any perceived wrong-doing is likely because I am reading it wrongly," Hedhman lamented in an email to The Register. "Now, it is the opposite. All words/sentences are interpreted in the most absurd way possible, assigning malice when there clearly isn't any or the other way around. Newspeak is in full swing, and professional victimhood is elevated to religion, complete with hierarchy, clergy, constituents and scribes."
The Register received an email from an internal ASF mailing list that documents Hedhman's argument to the board opposing Rodriguez's removal from the TinkerPop Project Management Committee on the grounds that the accusations are false.
The claim that Rodriguez published his tweets to the private@tinkerpop mailing list are untrue, insisted Hedhman, as he said is the claim that Rodriguez used the ASF resources to humiliate people.
A Twitter feed maintained by Rodriguez had 45 followers at the time this article was filed. Its content is deliberately engineered to offend everyone, achingly so. We could tell you it is lazy and punches down, which are both kryptonite for good satire, but instead we'll invite you, if you so care, to look and form your own opinion.
We also note that Rodriguez's personal Twitter feed is permanently banned. To us, it is not clear at this time which of his tweets or profile drew the foundation's ire in particular.
The ASF board has not yet published its February board meeting minutes nor approved the February minutes for the TinkerPop project, which may or may not shed further light on the objections made to Rodriguez's posts.
Asked to comment on the situation, a spokesperson for the ASF offered little in the way of detail.
This action was taken, in accordance with the ASF Bylaws, to protect our community of contributors
"The ASF Board of Directors removed an individual from an organizational committee that makes decisions on behalf of one of our many projects," the spokesperson said. "This action was taken, in accordance with the ASF Bylaws, to protect our community of contributors."
Rodriguez provided The Register with a copy of an email he sent to the board, urging them not to be "another organization of fools that sway in the breeze of the mob’s zeitgeist." While he says he hasn't received a response, he did note that other ASF members have left the organization because they objected to having their views, rather than their code, reviewed.
Hedhman acknowledges that Rodriguez's posts have been controversial but he argues that's allowed in the United States.
"The tweets in question were obvious satire, 'bad/dark humor' and trolling for the sake of making people upset," said Hedhman. "It was the essence of why I am not on Twitter and think it is the worst plague that has been inflicted on humans in recent years. I didn't like Marko's tactics, but I can understand his angle."
Hedhman said the ASF board's response is proof that "exercising your US constitutional rights will put you in a lot of trouble."
"If speech is not allowed to be offensive, it would not need protection," he said. ®
After two flubs, I would suggest that you back away from your keyboard until your hangover subsides. :) (Either that, or actually READ the Preview before you post.)
A number of explanations for the origin of the Apache name have been offered over the years.Hmmmm. Looks like they've been getting woke for a while...From the inception of the Apache project in 1995 the official documentation stated:[15][16]
Apache is a cute name which stuck. It was based on some existing code and a series of software patches, a pun on “A PAtCHy” server.In an April 2000 interview, Brian Behlendorf, one of the creators of Apache said:[17]The name literally came out of the blue. I wish I could say that it was something fantastic, but it was out of the blue. I put it on a page and then a few months later when this project started, I pointed people to this page and said: "Hey, what do you think of that idea?" ... Someone said they liked the name and that it was a really good pun. And I was like, "A pun? What do you mean?" He said, "Well, we're building a server out of a bunch of software patches, right? So it's a patchy Web server." I went, "Oh, all right." ... When I thought of the name, no. It just sort of connotated: "Take no prisoners. Be kind of aggressive and kick some ass."Since 2013 the Apache Foundation has explained the origin of the name as:[18]The name 'Apache' was chosen from respect for the various Native American nations collectively referred to as Apache, well-known for their superior skills in warfare strategy and their inexhaustible endurance. It also makes a cute pun on "a patchy web server"—a server made from a series of patches—but this was not its origin. The group of developers who released this new software soon started to call themselves the "Apache Group".
> Stefan Molyneux - Cancel Culture is Dress Rehearsal for Mass Murder <
I absolutely believe that. At the risk of running afoul of Godwin’s Law, what we’re seeing today is something like how the Nazis persecuted the Jews. Begin by blaming them for things that happened in the past, like for the German loss in WW I. Then remove (cancel) them from places where they had some influence - the government, schools, etc.
Then...well, you know the rest.
Since I’m rambling, two more points:
1, Most Jews did not see the Holocaust coming. After all, Germany was a highly educated and cultured land - it was the land of Bach and Beethoven. So all the early signs were ignored.
2. German Jews didn’t have the 2A. But we do. The fascist liberals would be wise to consider that. I’m not about to march on DC. But neither will I line up against a wall.
The actual history behind something does not matter when it comes to “woke”ness, cancel culture, and their revolution. What matters is the perceived offensiveness. Eventually the name will be changed .
Yes, the licenses and "codes of conduct" can be rather eye-opening as can the open source license warfare
The source of the Apache name does not matter. Just as the fact that the Washington Redskins were name after the fact that the coach and five of it’s players were native Americans. Doesn’t matter. The road to hell is played with good intentions. Doesnt matter.
You are guilty, guilty, guilty of cultural appropriation and noting else matters. That big tech has foisted this idiotic process on ignorant disciples, Doesn’t matter. You have been judged and every aspect of your life condemned to total eradication. The mob has spoken. It does not care what good you have done. That is irrelevant. You are guilty, guilty, guilty. Guilty. You will be abolished. Your children will be abolished, their children abolished. You expressed a thought that was not popular.
I notice that the actual tweets are never posted. We never get to read them and make up our own minds. It’s always, “Trust us, they were horrible.”
Down the Memory Hole.
"It is of no concern to you, Citizen. The State has determined the messages were crimethink, and they no longer exist. Go about your business, Citizen, and give this matter no further thought."
The book “1984” was supposed to be a cautionary tale, it seems to have become a training manual. Sad.
Seriously though, it's obvious the man's Twitter was a project to see how far Freedom of Speech goes nowadays. Apparently it goes up to the point where someone's offended and stops there - must be a hidden Right or Amendment somewhere.
They shouldn’t be able to use the name ‘Apache’, it offends my native american side, even though they weren’t Apaches.
I hate that these articles talk all around the tweets but don’t actually say them.
Hate speech = liberal blasphemy laws.
Big Tech was obviously infected by social justice when Linux started saying you have to abide by SJW social codes to write literal code.
Then the creator of Linux went woke, probably pressured by his woke daughters.
Nazi has become a slur equal to “someone who should be killed”. It is like calling someone a blasphemer in a Shariah law society. People make the accusation to scare someone into submission, knowing the lynch mob will murder them with impunity.
Note they aren’t even called hate speech / blasphemy but “near hate speech”.
The holier than thou social justice jihadis think they are saving the world by bullying people into submission to THEIR faith.
Precedence: the Cherokees demanding Jeep Cherokee have its name changed ...
And even the application of the term “near hate speech” varies depending upon the political persuasion of the person saying it.
I like the evolution of newsspeak in their timeline. It was because of A. Then nope, it was B. And then C. And frankly C sounds less legit than the actual history of the Washington Redskins football team.
Can a freeware company “get woke and go broke”? I thought they were broke to begin with...
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