Rust says tech will* always be political

I believe this is a misrepresentation of @bogmihdav's argument. (If you were not responding to their post, my apologies.)

As others have noted, opposition to police brutality is one thing, but making public comments opposed to police brutality at this point in history, and particularly in the context of the United States, is more than simply opposition to police brutality. We do not speak perfect universal truths into an uncaring void; our statements will be interpreted in the context of current events and living political narratives that sometimes change even from day to day. Taking a break from one's regular routine in order to raise awareness of police brutality is aligning oneself, even if in a small way, with the political movement currently most strongly associated with that issue.

Suppose the tweet had said, "In acknowledgement of the fact that taking a stand against disorderly protest, looting, and rioting is more important than sharing technical knowledge, this account will pause tweeting until further notice." On the face of it this is an uncontroversial opinion, much the same as what was actually tweeted. But it plays into a completely different political narrative, and aligns the speaker with a different political movement. Furthermore, making any statement at all about current events in the US, while not commenting on other events going on elsewhere in the world, sends a message that the Rust team cares more about American politics than stuff going on elsewhere. The Rust team clearly knows this, and made the tweet anyway, apparently deeming the issue at hand more important than any bad outcome of being aligned with this movement or with US politics in general.

For someone reading the tweet, which intentionally aligns the Rust core team (and, possibly unintentionally, the Rust community) with a particular political movement in a particular part of the world, feeling excluded does not mean you support police brutality.

20 Likes