Keeping KDE Apolitical

[Nick Boyce]

On 3 Nov 2025 at 22:56, Albert Cid wrote:

> Anonymous Viewer wrote:
>> picking a side will naturally result in the exclusion of people not
>> on that side.
>
> Exactly, we can do two things:
>  * Include the bullies and exclude the nice people
>  * Include the nice people and exclude the bullies
> I hope it is clear to you that we prefer the second one.

+1

Nick


On Mon, 3 Nov 2025 at 22:56, Albert Astals Cid <aacid at kde.org> wrote:
>
> El dilluns, 3 de novembre del 2025, a les 22:51:16 (Hora estàndard d’Europa
> central), Anonymous Viewer va escriure:
> > > Even still, I don't agree that being "apolitical" in your definition is a
> > > unquestionable goodm I would like to ask you to question why you think
> > > being "apolitical" is a good thing.  --
> > > Margaret "Mae" Miller (she/her)
> >
> > Because picking a side will naturally result in the exclusion of people not
> > on that side.
>
> Exactly, we can do two things:
>  * Include the bullies and exclude the nice people
>  * Include the nice people and exclude the bullies
>
> I hope it is clear to you that we prefer the second one.
>
> Please, stop bothering us and distracting us from producing software.
>
> Best Regards,
>   Albert
>
> > Promoting a culture of conformity where there is a chilling
> > effect on range of people's speech and expression. You end up like GNOME
> > where there is a clear political majority of a particular school of thought
> > in the management and development of the project. That in of itself is not
> > a bad thing, but it is when any it gets to the point where anything
> > critical or contrary to their world view will end up getting drowned out
> > and result in your character assassination by getting branded a nazi. This
> > is the exact kind of activity that I would like to see the KDE community
> > avoid for the foreseeable future by acknowledging that people participating
> > will have political views and are free to express themselves as such. But
> > KDE Plasma as an organisation and project must strive to remain apolitical
> > to cater to many demographics as possible. That will simply not be the case
> > if people continue to speak on behalf of KDE Plasma in their capacity as an
> > employee or contributor to share their political theoretic.
> >
> > As some have previously pointed out there, is a time and place for political
> > activism but KDE Plasma should not be one such place. Inclusion is built
> > into the very ethos of free and open source software, so there should be no
> > need for involving identity politics or culture wars any further than it
> > already has.
> >
> > On Nov 2, 2025 at 10:56 PM, Margaret Miller <mmiller at wanderingwires.net>
> > wrote:Even still, I don't agree that being "apolitical" in your definition
> > is a unquestionable goodm I would like to ask you to question why you think
> > being "apolitical" is a good thing.
> > --
> > Margaret "Mae" Miller (she/her)
> >
> > Nov 2, 2025, 14:52 by rtroy at ScienceTools.com:
> > > On Sun, 2 Nov 2025, Margaret Miller wrote:
> > >> No. I love KDE precisely because they're not falling for this
> > >> "apolitical"
> >
> > nonsense that only ever is used to benefit the far right and push out
> > marginalized people.
> >
> > > Hmmm...
> > >
> > > With respect, I'd like to ask you to adjust how you assert stuff like
> > > that.
> > >
> > > You're not wrong, Margaret, in stating that there are many instances in
> >
> > modern times, especially in the USA and parts of Western Europe (perhaps
> > elsewhere) that very partisan and political things are done in the name of
> > being "apolitical." However, someone else's improper use of our common
> > language shouldn't be a reason for us to redefine words and twist things.
> > That is, how you phrased your defense of the marginalized was itself
> > falling into a linguistic trap. I agree with "Slopsec" we all stay out of
> > it.
> >
> > > I believe "Slopsec's" articulation was the more accurate: We can and
> > > should
> >
> > defend being apolitical in KDE and avoid it in ourselves when dealing with
> > unrelated subjects. And let us not try and redefine the word apolitical or
> > buy into other people's false definitions. Slopsec asked we keep politics
> > out of this venue and I agree, and defending those who need defending as
> > you propose isn't, in my view, political.
> >
> > > Word-hijacking has long been, unfortunately, "a thing" in humanity and
> > > it's
> >
> > both insidious and corrosive and is intended, most times, to either divide,
> > or convince one of false narratives. A simple but obvious example would be
> > the likes of Nancy Pelosi (among many others) who try and call themselves
> > "left" just because they're not where current Republicans are, when anyone
> > of my generation would call them out as 1980's style Republicans. It's an
> > attempt to redefine the word for their own political purposes and I say we
> > not buy into it. Apolitical means NOT political. And defending against
> > bullying as you propose isn't a political act, it's an act born of good
> > morals.
> >
> > > In any event, ABSOLUTELY, Margaret, DEFEND those who need defending, like
> > > the
> > marginalized. Lets just try and not talk past one another, please.
> >
> > > I hope I haven't just whacked a hornet's nest!
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > > Richard
> > >
> > > P.S. You can read MY basic political affiliations in my signature line as
> > > it
> > articulates the who and what I pledge allegiance to.  RT
> >
> > >> --
> > >> Margaret "Mae" Miller (she/her)
> > >>
> > >> Nov 2, 2025, 14:09 by anonymous.viewer at mailfence.com:
> > >>> Hello everyone,
> > >>>
> > >>> Something concerning that was brought to my attention compelled me to
> >
> > compose my thoughts. For the sake of maintaining a healthy community with a
> > diverse array of people from different backgrounds, I would like to implore
> > that you please keep KDE Plasma apolitical. It should not be used as a
> > platform for character assassination or the badjacketing of people and
> > organisations for political views which may differ from your own. There
> > could be about half a dozen of reasons why KDE Plasma may have wished to
> > abstain from interacting on X/Twitter and each of them likely to be valid
> > from a purely technical or utilitarian prospective. Instead, an employee of
> > KDE Plasma for promotion and communication asserted their own politics and
> > spoke on behalf of KDE Plasma as a whole in a statement when addressing why
> > KDE Plasma has stopped posting to X.
> >
> > >>> I don't think this is something that should be tolerated in our
> > >>> community,
> >
> > as the politicisation of projects and hobbies only serves to sow division
> > which leads to ostracism and exclusion rather than inclusion. Hobbies
> > should be politically neutral as to remain inclusive for all people from
> > different walks of life. The founding ethos of the free and open source
> > community ensured that nobody was excluded or marginalised for their
> > immutable traits or beliefs as they did not matter or would've otherwise
> > impacted a person's ability to participate. These very founding principles
> > are being threatened by those who that assert their politics into the
> > hobbies and projects where it has no business being. The free and open
> > source movement is political in nature, yes. However, there should be
> > absolutely no room for identity politics and culture wars which distract
> > from the very purpose of our hobby. Creating, maintaining and iterating on
> > software and public infrastructure that anyone may free
> > > ly use for the betterment of humanity.
> > >
> > >>> I've left my thoughts here in good faith as a user of KDE Plasma and
> >
> > welcome any discussion or feedback.
> >
> > >>> Thank you all for your time and cheers for reading.
> > >>>
> > >>> —Slopsec
> > >>>
> > >>> --
> > >>> Sent with https://mailfence.com
> > >>> Secure and private email
> > >
> > > --
> > > Richard Troy, Chief Scientist
> > > Science Tools Corporation
> > > 510-717-6942
> > > rtroy at ScienceTools.com, http://ScienceTools.com/
> > >
> > > I pledge allegiance to We, The People, to mutual peace and harmony, and
> > > to the natural Earth and biosphere upon which We, The People, depend.
>
>
>
>