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> especially when part of the problem is systemic papercuts I'm sorry for slavery in US, but slavery in US is hardly the only example of slavery in history. m

> especially when part of the problem is systemic papercuts I'm sorry for slavery in US, but slavery in US is hardly the only example of slavery in history. master/slave describes more than just a hundred years of slavery in United States It also describes thousands of years of religious beliefs, for example. > the very point of questioning it is whether or not this "tradition" is worth the pain of systemic papercuts Not to sound harsh, but 5 billion people are ok with it. It's a linguistic problem for a small minority of the population that speaks English as a native language and super charge words meaning. Take for example the word servomotor. A servomotor is > French servo-moteur, from Latin servus slave, servant + French -o- + moteur motor, from Latin motor one that moves In Italian it is "servo motore", servo is the exact translation of slave. Why is servomotor ok, why is "I'm a slave to Jesus" or "God is my master" ok, but master branch is not? I'm simply curious of why some people can't let things go...

globular-toast 6y ago
Paul Graham published an essay recently which describes these kind of people as "aggressively conventionally-minded": http://paulgraham.com/conformism.html http://paulgraham.com/conformism.html Essentially there are some people who will follow rules and trends without questioning them. Among those there are some who will actively seek to punish those who do not follow the rules. This master/slave thing is a new rule born out of guilt and virtue signalling. This comes from the fact that some people see themselves as genuinely superior to others and this makes them uncomfortable. They virtue signal in an attempt to fight against this feeling, rather than just accepting what may be true, moving on, and continuing to be a good person. It's a phenomenon that has been observed in many contexts. The most vocal homophobes are often homosexual themselves. The most vocal religious devotees often have the strongest doubts.

globular-toast 6y ago

Paul Graham published an essay recently which describes these kind of people as "aggressively conventionally-minded": http://paulgraham.com/conformism.html http://paulgraham.com/conformism.html Essentially there are some people who will follow rules and trends without questioning them. Among those there are some who will actively seek to punish those who do not follow the rules. This master/slave thing is a new rule born out of guilt and virtue signalling. This comes from the fact that some people see themselves as genuinely superior to others and this makes them uncomfortable. They virtue signal in an attempt to fight against this feeling, rather than just accepting what may be true, moving on, and continuing to be a good person. It's a phenomenon that has been observed in many contexts. The most vocal homophobes are often homosexual themselves. The most vocal religious devotees often have the strongest doubts.