The issue is 'the cultural war' has already been won. UK for example is all about 'diversity', minority right, LGBTQ, transgender, etc. We champion discriminating against men and white people. I went on an internship at a global law firm some three years ago. Only 4 intakes out of 12 were male, and only 2 white. In a country that has 51% men, and 82% white people(!) I have friends with similar experience.
It is the cycle of history: different political groups gain power and push their ideologies on other people. Corporations follow because they want to be 'in with the crowd'. People get angry, there is disagreement, discontent, uproar, and change...
The woke movement will end...eventually.
Can't change it for now.
But I am with you - and agree for a platform that is open source and accessible to everyone, the management should have no business with pushing politics.
It is the cycle of history: different political groups gain power and push their ideologies on other people. Corporations follow because they want to be 'in with the crowd'. People get angry, there is disagreement, discontent, uproar, and change...
The woke movement will end...eventually.
Can't change it for now.
But I am with you - and agree for a platform that is open source and accessible to everyone, the management should have no business with pushing politics.
@Gingersquirrelnuts I think you understood me well. But setting bar this low could be very problematic. My suggestion would be +10 UN recognized countries although as I mentioned the number could be debated.
I agree with GM Durarbaly. Lichess shouldn't be political. Simply because players are here to play and to focus on chess, and not on politics. If the direction of lichess already said that the website was politicized, it doesn't change the fact that it constitutes a management error. The decision of making lichess free and non profit is not political, but simply a personal decision made by the creator of the website on its running. The website should stay neutral.
Lichess is great by many ways, but the choice of politicising it is wrong. For lichess to stay the gem that it is, there should be no element on the website that draws users attention out of chess, and especially on politics.
I should add that running a website as big as lichess and keeping all politics-related topics out is definitely not easy. For example, the flag problem isn't obvious to solve, because even giving the possibility to the users to arbor only UN countries flags is paying tribute to the UN, which is in itself a political act. Maybe a good solution would be to simply keep flags totally out of the website, and do the same with all non chess-related items.
AT
Lichess is great by many ways, but the choice of politicising it is wrong. For lichess to stay the gem that it is, there should be no element on the website that draws users attention out of chess, and especially on politics.
I should add that running a website as big as lichess and keeping all politics-related topics out is definitely not easy. For example, the flag problem isn't obvious to solve, because even giving the possibility to the users to arbor only UN countries flags is paying tribute to the UN, which is in itself a political act. Maybe a good solution would be to simply keep flags totally out of the website, and do the same with all non chess-related items.
AT
100% agree on all points, really good article by Durarbayli!
P.S. If you hover over on the "Dislike" button for your comments, you will see a lot of Armenian chess players here :D
P.S. If you hover over on the "Dislike" button for your comments, you will see a lot of Armenian chess players here :D
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@Cedur216 said in #18:
> It's ridiculous to say that flags which ain't recognized states make the site "political", or that expressing support for suppressed groups of people does.
Exactly this. Vasif's clarification above doesn't really solve anything. For example, I see Vasif played a player playing under the English flag OTB last month. A country that no UN state recognises. But I don't think anybody would suggest that England is a "minor" or "unrecognised" country, but this all shows that it's complex to fairly set rules.
But what we need to remember (and this is not a direct comment about the Caucasus- a situation I know little about) that millions around the world live in places where they are forced to live under a flag that they don't believe represents them, and where there is an organised and peaceful movement to oppose their situation, in many cases in the face of violent oppression. For lichess to refuse recognition to people in those places is actively siding with the oppressor. That is a political act.
Perhaps the only way for Lichess to avoid politics here would be for them to do away with flags altogether? But if they did that, I'd want a Euro for everyone who was on these forums complaining about removing flags being "wokeness gone mad"
> It's ridiculous to say that flags which ain't recognized states make the site "political", or that expressing support for suppressed groups of people does.
Exactly this. Vasif's clarification above doesn't really solve anything. For example, I see Vasif played a player playing under the English flag OTB last month. A country that no UN state recognises. But I don't think anybody would suggest that England is a "minor" or "unrecognised" country, but this all shows that it's complex to fairly set rules.
But what we need to remember (and this is not a direct comment about the Caucasus- a situation I know little about) that millions around the world live in places where they are forced to live under a flag that they don't believe represents them, and where there is an organised and peaceful movement to oppose their situation, in many cases in the face of violent oppression. For lichess to refuse recognition to people in those places is actively siding with the oppressor. That is a political act.
Perhaps the only way for Lichess to avoid politics here would be for them to do away with flags altogether? But if they did that, I'd want a Euro for everyone who was on these forums complaining about removing flags being "wokeness gone mad"
England is recognized as a country in nearly all sports organizations. It is a bad comparasion.
You may disagree with my suggestion, but one point is clear to me: we need definitive guidelines, rather than managerial decisions, to dictate which flags should be allowed according to their belief systems. It appears to me that the current approach is biased and hypocritical. I'm even prepared to go further to prove this by adding countries similar to Artsakh into the open code, and I am confident that they will not be accepted.
You may disagree with my suggestion, but one point is clear to me: we need definitive guidelines, rather than managerial decisions, to dictate which flags should be allowed according to their belief systems. It appears to me that the current approach is biased and hypocritical. I'm even prepared to go further to prove this by adding countries similar to Artsakh into the open code, and I am confident that they will not be accepted.
As I live under a rock I didn't know about this Artsakh thing, have to say they found a nice flag, a pixelated overlay over the Armenian one.
If you want unrecognised country flags, Corsica is a cool one. I'll stick with the pirate one though, harr harr
If you want unrecognised country flags, Corsica is a cool one. I'll stick with the pirate one though, harr harr
It's already politicised when lichess have the fookin rainbow colours
This topic is now closed.