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Stephen Downes emailed me personally about that. I'm mortified. I've changed the title and have left a note, and am in the process of editing the text. The phr

by benwerd 15y ago

Stephen Downes emailed me personally about that. I'm mortified. I've changed the title and have left a note, and am in the process of editing the text. The phrase predates the racist connotation, but nonetheless, I'm more than uncomfortable with the association.

csallen 15y ago
I'm black, and I can't begin to imagine being offended by that phrase.
dionidium 15y ago
Mortification is a bit of a hyper-correction. Let's not all freak out about a situation in which 1) no racism was intended; and 2) most people probably aren't even aware of the incorrect, racist meaning (you weren't and I wasn't, either).
zafka 15y ago
I would hate to see a great exhortation cast aside because of a few misguided racists who tried to steal a saying.
vinodkd 15y ago
if you really want to get serious, you probably have to change the page name that your blogging software generated for you as well - cos its pretty prominently being "racist slur"-y on the browser address bar! See how this quickly gets out of hand? i guess you'll have to delete the post, repost it with a nice clean title and then submit it to the HN firehose all nice and sanitized. or you could just let common sense prevail. nice article, btw.
mhartl 15y ago
Score another win for the thought police.
Quarrelsome 15y ago
Why would you be mortified? Anyone offended obviously hasn't/didn't read the article. The context is evidently about calling a thing what a thing is, not racism. You go acting so scared about it you'll do yourself more harm. Context is what defines these scenarios. The only other horror is to be scared of is to be perceived (by idiots) as potentially racist and there is no honour in fearing that. As the great comedian Reginald D Hunter once said: when talking about British people coming up to him and asking him if they were accidentally racist in given situation: "... was there hatred in your heart?". In this case, evidently not.
BrandonM 15y ago
> Stephen Downes emailed me personally about that. You mean this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Downes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Downes ? Was he offended by the word "spade"? It often seems to be the case that the people who are fighting for political correctness are not actually the ones that would be potentially offended by a given phrase. The "PC police" imagine that something might be taken poorly by someone else, and they seem to enjoy foisting their views on others, deriving some sense of superiority from their "heightened sensitivity." Why can't we follow the simple policy that if you, personally, are offended by something, you speak up. Otherwise, you keep your mouth shut. Let's call a spade a spade: some people just like to grant themselves the authority to tell people what to do.
FuzzyDunlop 15y ago
It's always surprising (and disappointing) how one person can assert so much power simply by sending an email of complaint. At least now you're no longer offending Stephen Downes.

by benwerd 15y ago

csallen 15y ago

I'm black, and I can't begin to imagine being offended by that phrase.

dionidium 15y ago

Mortification is a bit of a hyper-correction. Let's not all freak out about a situation in which 1) no racism was intended; and 2) most people probably aren't even aware of the incorrect, racist meaning (you weren't and I wasn't, either).

zafka 15y ago

I would hate to see a great exhortation cast aside because of a few misguided racists who tried to steal a saying.

vinodkd 15y ago

if you really want to get serious, you probably have to change the page name that your blogging software generated for you as well - cos its pretty prominently being "racist slur"-y on the browser address bar! See how this quickly gets out of hand? i guess you'll have to delete the post, repost it with a nice clean title and then submit it to the HN firehose all nice and sanitized. or you could just let common sense prevail. nice article, btw.

mhartl 15y ago

Score another win for the thought police.

Quarrelsome 15y ago

Why would you be mortified? Anyone offended obviously hasn't/didn't read the article. The context is evidently about calling a thing what a thing is, not racism. You go acting so scared about it you'll do yourself more harm. Context is what defines these scenarios. The only other horror is to be scared of is to be perceived (by idiots) as potentially racist and there is no honour in fearing that. As the great comedian Reginald D Hunter once said: when talking about British people coming up to him and asking him if they were accidentally racist in given situation: "... was there hatred in your heart?". In this case, evidently not.

BrandonM 15y ago

> Stephen Downes emailed me personally about that. You mean this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Downes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Downes ? Was he offended by the word "spade"? It often seems to be the case that the people who are fighting for political correctness are not actually the ones that would be potentially offended by a given phrase. The "PC police" imagine that something might be taken poorly by someone else, and they seem to enjoy foisting their views on others, deriving some sense of superiority from their "heightened sensitivity." Why can't we follow the simple policy that if you, personally, are offended by something, you speak up. Otherwise, you keep your mouth shut. Let's call a spade a spade: some people just like to grant themselves the authority to tell people what to do.

FuzzyDunlop 15y ago

It's always surprising (and disappointing) how one person can assert so much power simply by sending an email of complaint. At least now you're no longer offending Stephen Downes.