4 ms·

This is just stupid. Words are polysemic, they have multiple meanings depending on their context, but more importantly they don't have any meaning outside any c

by slim 6y ago

This is just stupid. Words are polysemic, they have multiple meanings depending on their context, but more importantly they don't have any meaning outside any context. Words are offensive because their context is offensive. If you don't change the context, you don't solve the problem. I've never thought master/slave offensive in the context of computers. Those words imposed their inoffensive meaning in the culture of computer users for half a century. Now they just ruined it, they actually changed the context to make those words offensive again. Sometimes you just have to fight the cultural battle.

tyleo 6y ago
I agree that the context determines the intent to offend but I think some words may be offensive or at least distracting to some despite the context. If you have seen a word used in a certain context enough it can become difficult to ignore that context in other uses. Similarly, after watching an actor play a role well it may be hard to separate them from that role while watching other movies. It may also be useful to imagine master/slave replaced with words that are offensive to you to imagine what it’s like for someone else. For example, if they were called pimp/bitch servers I’m sure others would find that offensive. Different sets of words will be offensive to different individuals. I’m sure we could find 2 words which are less offensive to all.
Frost1x 6y ago
Definitely. And "blacklist"/"whitelist" is used for a lot of contexts outside computing that have, to my understanding, not even a historic relation to racism: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacklisting#Origins_of_the_term https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacklisting#Origins_of_the_... What's next, blackboards and whiteboards? What about red-black trees? Do we really need to shuffle around well established non-offensive terms just because they have a color in their names? If there was some truly offensive embedding in our nomenclature im all for removing it but this seems like a silly PR stunt. We're turning completely benign ideas into something offensive.
effie 6y ago
Very well said! I might add, some people seem to look for things to get offended by just to bamboozle others into thinking they deserve special treatment and as a result, gain some political power.

by slim 6y ago

tyleo 6y ago

I agree that the context determines the intent to offend but I think some words may be offensive or at least distracting to some despite the context. If you have seen a word used in a certain context enough it can become difficult to ignore that context in other uses. Similarly, after watching an actor play a role well it may be hard to separate them from that role while watching other movies. It may also be useful to imagine master/slave replaced with words that are offensive to you to imagine what it’s like for someone else. For example, if they were called pimp/bitch servers I’m sure others would find that offensive. Different sets of words will be offensive to different individuals. I’m sure we could find 2 words which are less offensive to all.

Frost1x 6y ago

Definitely. And "blacklist"/"whitelist" is used for a lot of contexts outside computing that have, to my understanding, not even a historic relation to racism: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacklisting#Origins_of_the_term https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacklisting#Origins_of_the_... What's next, blackboards and whiteboards? What about red-black trees? Do we really need to shuffle around well established non-offensive terms just because they have a color in their names? If there was some truly offensive embedding in our nomenclature im all for removing it but this seems like a silly PR stunt. We're turning completely benign ideas into something offensive.

effie 6y ago

Very well said! I might add, some people seem to look for things to get offended by just to bamboozle others into thinking they deserve special treatment and as a result, gain some political power.