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Richard Stallman's Political Notes

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'Inappropriate' behavior

vendredi 29 décembre 2017 à 01:00

Men now face being fired for vaguely sexual conversations that were not sexual harassment and that no one complained about.

Naturally, the announcement of dismissal used the vaguest possible word: "inappropriate". That word means "not correct in my judgment." Such a vague criticism can never justify the conclusion that someone has done wrong. Any act might be frowned upon by someone.

If you want to demand that someone be fired or prosecuted for some action, or justify firing the person for some action, it behooves you to make an accusation that is concrete, not vague like "inappropriate". You need to say what the action was, so we can judge how wrong it was. If you can't or won't describe it with something more concrete than "inappropriate", we must presume it wasn't bad enough to punish.

This note is not meant to defend conduct that merits some concrete criticism. Once there is a concrete criticism, we have a concrete issue to consider.

Jerusalem protests

vendredi 29 décembre 2017 à 01:00

Israeli troops fired at medics and journalists that moved towards a wounded Palestinian protester.

An Israeli official made a vague threat of violence against nonviolent protesters in Germany.

Extremists in the US

vendredi 29 décembre 2017 à 01:00

Extremists in the US killed 372 people in the 10-year period, 2007-2016. About 3/4 of the killings were done by right-wing extremists.

Sponge cities

vendredi 29 décembre 2017 à 01:00

China's "sponge cities" help direct rain underground, to reduce flooding.

Extinctions

vendredi 29 décembre 2017 à 01:00

"Ice will return but extinctions can't be reversed. We must act now."