RE: WA - background-image in CSS

You know, I'm really disappointed that people keep referring to me as, or
asking me if I am:

a:  a racist
b:  someone who promotes discrimination

I find it very disturbing that on a list that is worldwide in nature, people
would make such accusations and generalizations.  Discussion is meant to
further knowledge, not inhibit it.  Rather than having an intelligent
discussion on this petty subject of a background image, people are being
vicious and downright nasty.

I NEVER said my site was doing business. I NEVER said my site was art.  I
NEVER said I wanted to keep people from viewing the content.  I NEVER said
that I wanted to exclude anyone from my site.

I merely said that if an image wasn't necessary, then I could stick it in a
CSS and use the background properties.  

And this is what it leads to?


-----Original Message-----
From: Charles F. Munat [mailto:chas@munat.com]
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2002 1:53 PM
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: Re: WA - background-image in CSS



RUST Randal wrote:

> as a journalist, i find the point of view that the user has control over
> what i determine is essential is simply ludicrous.

Yes, and back in the 1960s, many store owners thought that they had a 
right to decide who they would serve and how. If blacks were served at 
all, they had to enter through the back door. And when confronted with 
the discriminatory aspect of this practice, the store owners loudy 
protested their right to discriminate.

How does your attitude differ? Why do you deserve control, but they don't?

Remember, please, that you are operating in a public place.

If you are *not* doing business on the web (i.e., it is a personal 
site), then your right to free expression takes precedence, and you can 
make your page as inaccessible as you like.

But if you are engaging in some form of commerce (even if it is 
operating a club or providing a free service), then you have no right to 
do so in a discriminatory manner. The right of the people to equal 
access to your site overrides your right to free expression (just as the 
public's right to safety overrides your right to shout "fire!" in a 
crowded theater).

Believe me, the idea that people could tell them how to run their 
businesses struck those 1960's businessmen as just as ludicrous. (Sadly, 
some of these attitudes can still be found, though they've mostly gone 
undercover now.)

Accessibility is a civil rights issue, and civil rights issues are human 
rights issues.

Charles F. Munat
Seattle, Washington

Received on Friday, 18 January 2002 14:09:08 UTC