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A (black) engineer colleague of mine told me about his team's effort to change master to main. The whole initiative was started by a rainbow colored hair (white
by 908B64B197 6y ago
A (black) engineer colleague of mine told me about his team's effort to change master to main. The whole initiative was started by a rainbow colored hair (white) PM and since it was what they believed to be a highly visible and easy fix, grew to a team of 5. All non-technical PMs of course.
They ended up producing a "manifesto of inclusive software" where they listed every word they considered offensive and what it should be replaced with and made a very public announcement regarding the change.
The only response to their email was my (black) colleague asking if the branch renaming could be postponed to after a release because he didn't know what it could break in the build and release automation in case "master" is hard-coded somewhere.
This apparently started a lengthy thread between him and the 5 PMs where they explained to him that the reason he wasn't supportive of the change was because of the "systemic and cultural racism" he apparently internalized.
- arp242 6y ago> This apparently started a lengthy thread between him and the 5 PMs where they explained to him that the reason he wasn't supportive of the change was because of the "systemic and cultural racism" he apparently internalized. If you feel that the master branch is a symptom of systemic and cultural racism then sure, feel free to make your case. I am interested in what you have to say and will do my best to consider what you have to say as best as I can. But once people start making these kind of arguments it's clear to me I'm dealing with someone in simplex transmit-only mode and not receiving anything I have to say. I really hate these kind of arguments. It's just gaslighting and handwaving away of whatever people are saying. "Your argument is invalid because you are subconsciously racist". Right, what makes you such an expert on my subconscious, hm? This is where I lose interest in talking to people. I'm about as liberal as they come, but in the last few years I've mostly lost interest in social justice cause not because I think the cause is bad, because there are too many people involved that are just thoroughly unpleasant to deal with. It's high time the community ejects some of its more toxic elements, which will benefit everyone, but thus far they're mostly protected, defended, and even celebrated because "they're on our team". But that's not how it works. Assholes are assholes, no matter which team they're on.
- Jiro 6y agoWhat happened then? Maybe in response, he said "no, I didn't internalize any racism, and here's a list of reasons why that logically isn't racist at all", and they said "Oh, never mind then". Or maybe not. If accusing people of internalizing systemic racism didn't work, nobody would do it. We have a system where accusing a person of racism is an instant win and cannot be argued with, and as long as it is an instant win, it's going to be used, even against actual black people.
- tablespoon 6y ago> What happened then? Maybe in response, he said "no, I didn't internalize any racism, and here's a list of reasons why that logically isn't racist at all", and they said "Oh, never mind then". Shouldn't the black engineer's white colleagues "do their own work" instead of forcing him to do it for them?
- snovv_crash 6y agoThis is when he should tell them to stop whitesplaining
- 908B64B197 6y ago> What happened then? He stopped responding to the thread. Moved the ticket to "Backlog" and didn't assign anyone to it.
- thrownaway564 6y agoWe have an "inclusion council" that hands out these diktats. The ban list (not blacklist!) is approaching 100 words
- CountDrewku 6y agoWow how ironic... in their attempt to stop something that isn't even racist to begin with they actually became racists. It'd be funny if this cult like thinking wasn't infecting our entire country. Thank God the white people were there to tell the black man how to think and feel about himself. After all they're incapable of self care and rational thought... /s
- serverholic 6y agoAnd they alienated someone who they were supposedly fighting for!
- nullserver 6y agoAre they fighting for him? His people? Or to Make themselves look good to piers?
- cbnotfromthere 6y ago"Or to Make themselves look good to piers?" Why would Piers Morgan be interested in their debate???
- rootusrootus 6y agoI'd think piers would be to busy contending with water to care much about how anyone looks.
- zeroimpl 6y agoThe irony here is two much
- computershit 6y agoBuoy you really nailed that one
- goatinaboat 6y agoin their attempt to stop something that isn't even racist to begin with they actually became racists. No, they were racists all along. They merely over-played their hands and revealed it. But actually they reveal it in other ways if you care to look: the hair and the pronouns in bio are giveaway clues. They "colonised" our industry and now it's time they got decolonised themselves.
- vmception 6y agothink you can get that friend to comment here?
- mensetmanusman 6y agoThis is sad.
- marknutter 6y agoThis is the most insane thing I have read in quite some time.
- clarge1120 6y agoA PM working in government (happened to be a white woman) once asked me how I (a black engineer, early 30s) escaped the inner city and became successful. I thought about it and answered, "I decided to stop participating in activities that got the police involved in my life." She called me a racist.
- vcxy 6y agoAre you even from the "inner city"? Trying to figure out how dumb this interaction was haha. I have a totally opposite experience, I'm white trailer trash that managed to get a math PhD from a fairly high ranking school. People just assume I grew up upper middle class.
- clarge1120 6y agoYou caught that, eh? I am not from the "inner city", and this conversation was pretty dumb. Most of them are.
- delaynomore 6y agoAnd without a doubt these people (PMs) proudly call themselves "allies" to the cause. SMH.