4 ms·

While I am entirely in favor of non-racist terminology and not offending anyone, let alone minorities, I don't quite get how master/slave and "killer app" may o

While I am entirely in favor of non-racist terminology and not offending anyone, let alone minorities, I don't quite get how master/slave and "killer app" may offend anyone and haven't heard of anyone feeling offended. If this is a big deal, please tell me and others. Same goes for "blacklist/whitelist". i'm not sure this ever referred to skin color...

Timucin 8y ago
> While I am entirely in favor of non-racist terminology and not offending anyone And you can't even comment on it without giving this explanation first because people will assume that you're racist if you don't do this first. This makes me sad since we have so much do to and we can achieve a lot yet we're focusing these so-called problems.
- bayesian_horse 8y ago
  Hating on political correctness is a pretty reliable predictor for racist views.
Jonnax 8y ago
On the lists. The terms mean that black is bad and white is good. If you have a chat with a racist they'll also tell you that black people are bad and white people are good. I'm no expert but language shapes how we interact and perceive the world. It's like cultures that have different sets of words to describe different shades of colours. I remember reading how this gives people in general more or less of an ability to differenciate shades. http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb05/hues.aspx http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb05/hues.aspx
- Tade0 8y ago
  I'm no expert but language shapes how we interact and perceive the world. The jury is still out on that one, because language relativity is still a hypothesis, not a theory. I personally don't believe it.
- smsm42 8y ago
  Oh yes, the so called Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, the beloved myth of the speech police. It makes great science fiction (read Babel-17 by Delany, it's a classic) but unfortunately as a practical idea that states there's scientific proof that if we use words like "blacklist" it makes us prejudiced against dark-skinned people (but banning this word makes it go away) is total bunk. There are some cultural differences in how people prefer to express themselves but this is lightyears away from "language defines thought" that some people seem to believe.
smsm42 8y ago
> haven't heard of anyone feeling offended There are certain people that enjoy the feeling of righteous indignation at finding "offenses" and "calling out" other people on them. This allows them to feel morally superior and as if they contribute something to the society. So instead of writing code or positively contribute in some other ways, they play the Red Guard and police other's speech. I've read several articles of people coming off this dangerous drug and realizing, post-factum, that this was exactly what and exactly why they were doing it, but too many people are still doing it anyway. > i'm not sure this ever referred to skin color... It never did. The Red Guards don't care.

Timucin 8y ago

> While I am entirely in favor of non-racist terminology and not offending anyone And you can't even comment on it without giving this explanation first because people will assume that you're racist if you don't do this first. This makes me sad since we have so much do to and we can achieve a lot yet we're focusing these so-called problems.

bayesian_horse 8y ago
Hating on political correctness is a pretty reliable predictor for racist views.

Jonnax 8y ago

On the lists. The terms mean that black is bad and white is good. If you have a chat with a racist they'll also tell you that black people are bad and white people are good. I'm no expert but language shapes how we interact and perceive the world. It's like cultures that have different sets of words to describe different shades of colours. I remember reading how this gives people in general more or less of an ability to differenciate shades. http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb05/hues.aspx http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb05/hues.aspx

Tade0 8y ago
I'm no expert but language shapes how we interact and perceive the world. The jury is still out on that one, because language relativity is still a hypothesis, not a theory. I personally don't believe it.
smsm42 8y ago
Oh yes, the so called Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, the beloved myth of the speech police. It makes great science fiction (read Babel-17 by Delany, it's a classic) but unfortunately as a practical idea that states there's scientific proof that if we use words like "blacklist" it makes us prejudiced against dark-skinned people (but banning this word makes it go away) is total bunk. There are some cultural differences in how people prefer to express themselves but this is lightyears away from "language defines thought" that some people seem to believe.

smsm42 8y ago

> haven't heard of anyone feeling offended There are certain people that enjoy the feeling of righteous indignation at finding "offenses" and "calling out" other people on them. This allows them to feel morally superior and as if they contribute something to the society. So instead of writing code or positively contribute in some other ways, they play the Red Guard and police other's speech. I've read several articles of people coming off this dangerous drug and realizing, post-factum, that this was exactly what and exactly why they were doing it, but too many people are still doing it anyway. > i'm not sure this ever referred to skin color... It never did. The Red Guards don't care.