Re: Human Rights and OA?

[Stevan Harnad <harnad@ecs.soton.ac.uk>]

On Mon, 19 Feb 2007, Peter Banks wrote:

> Richard Smith, never one to shy from the incendiary, has hit a 
> new extreme with 'Time to End the Slavery of Traditional 
> Publishing.' (see http://www.plos.org/cms/node/204). His 
> PowerPoint features a slide with images of bondage and a 
> lynching. In his analogy, publishers are slave owners, authors 
> and scientists slaves, and OA proponents are abolitionists.
>
> I find the presentation nothing less than repulsive - 
> especially given the apparent approving nods it received from 
> intelligent people like Peter Suber, who should know better. 
> One hopes that the legacy of Black slavery, like the Holocaust, 
> would be off limits in scoring cheap rhetorical points. But 
> apparently such simple decency is now too much to ask.
>
> The editors of PLoS should be ashamed for associating with such 
> offensive rubbish.

Peter Banks is quite right. Pit-bull tactics are a discredit to 
both sides. The slavery/abolition analogy is tasteless and 
totally unjustified. If OA proponents wish to help OA, let them 
promote OA rather than vilify publishers.

Stevan Harnad