Community Standards

Recently at a local school (the University of St Thomas) there was a racism incident. Reading the news and looking at the reaction as a strictly outside observer, I have to ask an uncomfortable question: How does a rally and a few letters to the community or the editor change anything?

I'm going to point to one example I know pretty well--the Ubuntu forums. They are what they are in large part because of the willingness of the community to set and enforce community standards. If that commitment wasn't there, I shudder to think what it would be like.

By the same token, a university or town or pick-a-community-unit which sets and enforces good standards is going to have a climate which is good or bad in proportion to how good the standards are and how effectively they are enforced.

I know there are genuine racists out there still and by no means am trying to downplay the significance of the incident. But if someone walked by and saw someone writing the comments, the right answer would be to smack them upside the head, berate their ignorance and racism, and perhaps hold their attention while the appropriate authorities are summoned. Until enough members of the community have the will and courage to do things like that, these kinds of issues will be a much more regular fact of life than otherwise.