>>> import this

Dear Tim,

I read your reply on what happen(ed) on the Python forum. Let me just take the chance to say, personally to you, that I’m deeply sorry about what’s happening in that community. This is not meant as a political outcry (you may want to delete this issue after reading to make sure nobody interprets it that way). I feel sorry because the Python language, alongside with the GNU/Linux operating system, has accompanied and formed an important part of my identity. I also feel sorry because I grew up with the certainty that people who make great accomplishments in a field are granted the respect that those accomplishments deserve. This building of my convictions has started to crumble and that worries me.

I’m European, and so I do communicate differently. Naturally, I also have different political views than likely the average person from North America (I have friends in Colorado, New York City and Texas)—if an “average person” exists. That said, I see the topic of moderating public discourse much on the rise, specifically since COVID and fueled by social media. Yes, “free speech” is a difficult topic, just as “fact checking” is one. And what is better, communism or capitalism?—You should be free to choose.

But rather than installing a “world police” that is entitled to decide on what is right and what is wrong, I’d defend the right of people having opinions different from mine to be allowed to express those—in the humble hope they also share this view. In the name of democracy, in the name of free speech. Freedom is difficult to have, we have to defend it and share the benefits of it. Of course, we need to do that peacefully. On a side note, what “peacefully” means might be different in different cultures. What might be perceived by one person as an “interactive discussion” and “learning new views from each other” might be seen by the other side as “offensive behavior” and “not accepting other people’s point of view”.

There should be no police being allowed to judge things like that. My vision of a society that I want to live in is one where people try to understand each other, even when this is difficult sometimes. I see the complaints of people in the forum, and I feel I know what they talk about. Now, when they criticize the police they get put in jail! Wow, what a great society. – I’d like to live in a society where it’s allowed to discuss the behavior of the police, where you have a chance for justice when there is abuse of power. A society where this is not possible is something that reminds of what we all know from movies about (European) governments of the early last century. We don’t want that. Nobody wants that, I’m sure.

Instead of “enforcement” of law (what a cruel word!) we should be motivating each other to be better individuals. We should make each other understand our expectations. Nobody should have the right to point to an established list of laws, just waiting for others to violate them, which would allow them to exercise prosecution. A society with laws of a dictator is still dictatorship, even worse when there is no mention of “benevolent”.

Originally posted as issue #50 in Tim Peter’s personal website repository on GitHub. Not planned for publication on my own website first, Chris McDonough made me rethink my decision:

“I’m disappointed to not see more support for Tim from the community that owes him so much.”

In defense of that, it’s difficult to voice one’s opinion on the Python forum at the moment without likely being sanctioned “for nothing”.