[ga] Inflammatory Language

["Patrick Corliss" <patrick@quad.net.au>]

Hi Joanna

On Mon, 03 Dec 2001 08:40:41 -0400, Joanna Lane wrote:

> We are in the middle of a War affecting world stability, the ramifications
> of which are catastrophic loss of life and business. The new Global
> Coalitions and Treaties on Terrorism and Cybercrime are impacting every
> nation's ability to do business internationally. ICANN's own Registrar
> Accreditation Agreement, clause 3.7.2, requires compliance with all
> applicable laws, not only those in the US.

Agreed.  In fact you can point to nobody on the GA list who disagrees.  Hence
my comment that the GA list agrees that ICANN should comply with the law.

Please prove otherwise.  We don't even need to a motion to that effect.

> Against this background we have named terrorist groups openly using the DNS,
> putting up websites in the legacy root and using them to promote their
> illegal activities. These are not "freedom fighters", these are people
> engaged in genocide, in Israel, in America and who knows where next.

Let me make my position absolutely clear.

There are, or may be, members of this list who belong to the Christian, Jewish
and Islamic faiths.  There are, or may be, members of this list who support
Israeli or Palestinian viewpoints.   There are, or may be, ccTLD managers
on the GA list representing all of the current participants including
countries such as Israel, Palestine, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, France,
the United Kingdom and the United States.  Even Australia's involved.

I consider it unwise and harmful in the extreme for GA members to use
emotive language when discussing DNS issues.  In particular, I refer to the
use of words like "slaughtered", "revenge", "Nazi", "martyrs", "jihad",
"genocide" and so on.

It really makes little difference whether you are using the words yourself or
quoting websites.  If you do that, others can do likewise and "terrorism" has
effectively scored the points that it seeks.  Fear and anger is generated and
the economy continues to suffer.  I'm sure George W. Bush said that too.

Or better yet, see this URL from the Terrorism Research Centre.  It says:
http://www.terrorism.com/terrorism/bpart1.html

> Second, attacks that may appear to be senseless and random are not. To
> the perpetrators, their attacks make perfect sense.  Acts such as bombing
> public places of assembly and shooting into crowded restaurants heighten
> public anxiety.  This is the terrorists' immediate objective.

> Third, the terrorist needs to publicize his attack. If no one knows about
> it, it will not produce fear.  The need for publicity often drives target
> selection; the greater the symbolic value of the target, the more publicity
> the attack brings to the terrorists and the more fear it generates.

I would put it to you that there are more appropriate forums for discussing
such issues.  In fact, I am sure it is not beyond your wit to discuss the DNS
issues, referencing Hamas or similar organisations if you will, without
probing the wounds underlying the conflict.  Or without giving in to their
objectives of creating anxiety and generating fear.

I wrote:

> If I am not mistaken Joanna Lane has already brought this to our attention.

To which you replied:

> Not me. John Berryhill is the expert. I questioned Stuart Lynn, who
> responded that ICANN doesn't care who its Registrars sells Domain Names to.

John Berryhill may have brought the issue to our attention but you have lifted
the discussion to another level entirely.  Not once but several times.

<snip>

> I don't know about you, but I think they could at least be expressing deep
> concern and telling the rest of the world that they will look into the
> situation, and get back to us.

Fine.  Make any proposal you like without the inflammatory language.

> Is that off topic enough for you?

It's attitudes like that, Joanna, that cause these wars in the first place.
Try this instead:

A Jewish lament:

The Babylonians have swept into Jerusalem from the north, slaughtering
the inhabitants and hauling others away to captivity.  And so we hear this
morning's painful cries to God for his people "The hearts of the people cry
out to the Lord.  Let your tears flow like a river day and night; give
yourself no relief, your eyes no rest."  Lamentations 2:18.

Or again:

"Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might
weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!" Jeremiah 9:1

And an Islamic Hadidth:

"O people weep, for if you cannot weep then make yourself weep.  Indeed
the inhabitants of the hellfire will weep until their tears pour down their
cheeks, as if they were streams until the tears are used up and then blood
will pour down, and the eyes will be covered with ulcers."


> Regards,
> Joanna

Regards
Patrick Corliss



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