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If we're going to change the way we speak, is it really better to imply those words meant race all along? It’s not about what the word meant all along. “Negro
by munchbunny 6y ago
If we're going to change the way we speak, is it really better to imply those words meant race all along?
It’s not about what the word meant all along.
“Negro” wasn’t considered a derogatory term for black people for the majority of its history as a word, but today, especially in English, we avoid it because of the legacy it picked up.
You don’t have to admit the word was always racist to believe that we should use some other words in today’s context.
- Dylan16807 6y agoIf the words had changed meaning, sure. But blacklist/whitelist are not words that have become racist. They're the same as they always were.
- quonn 6y agoI have used these terms both in English and in my native language for decades and it never crossed my mind that there could be any relation to skin colors. But now they are associated with this so I would argue it‘s more racist now since we‘ve connected something negative (a blacklist) in our minds with the idea of being black. I think this will do harm in two ways: a) harm because of the explicit association as just described b) harm because many people (possible supporters) will reject these kind of things as unreasonable Now, I think the policy itself is not a big thing. Can be done. But it should have included a statement that the underlying idea is perhaps a hit silly and this is done to avoid this distraction.