General > General Technical Chat
'Master' and 'slave': Tech terms face scrutiny amid anti-racism efforts
<< < (104/352) > >>
Fred Basset:
James if I am honest with you, they do not seem like ugly words to me either, but that is because I was trained in engineering.  So as soon as I see those words, I am thinking of master and slave cylinders - Not people.  I did not "see" the origin of those names, but now people are.

But I do not know how like other people I am.  Probably not a lot?  So others could well be seeing offense in those words that I did not.

Sadly I do not think there is going to be an answer that suits everyone?  Maybe we have to go with whatever causes the least problems for the maximum number of people?

You think this is bad?  The world of engineering is littered with potentially offensive terms.  I would not even know where to start there.
Nominal Animal:

--- Quote from: Fred Basset on June 18, 2020, 02:45:21 pm ---So others could well be seeing offense in those words that I did not.
--- End quote ---
We don't know.  All we've seen are offense by proxy, and some crazy activists who also spout nonsense about decolonising science.

(Science and scientific method being one of the true equalizers, and as far from "colonization" as you can get and stay a human.)

The inverse is just as suspect.  There are words whose use is either positive or negative, depending on who is using it.

All this enforced speech does is drive people harder into tribalization and segregation – which is its true purpose.  Equality of opportunity has been killed, and equity or equality of outcome is being touted as "ethical" or "moral", neither of which is true.  But masses believe what they want, because rational thought is now racist, too.
paulca:
Nomenclature, language and current trends and fashions are interesting.

It often makes me conclude that the offence is in the eye of the beholder.

About a decade ago during a discussion I used the term "Coloured people" to refer to non-whites and someone in my company said, "You racist bastard!"

I was like, "What?".... "Is that not the politically correct term?  Emm.. Help!?"

Turns out it's not anymore, but yet I still hear people referring to "People of colour" today meaning no offence.

I had obviously missed the trends switching and that term becoming derogatory.

There are other terms and words I will continue to use as they were originally intended.

Retard and retarded for example.  Meaning the opposite of advance/advanced.  I feel that if I use it within it's correct defintion and someone finds it offensive then that's all on them and not on me.  If they want to associate the word with ill or disabled people, then that's their bad, not mine.
SilverSolder:

--- Quote from: vodka on June 18, 2020, 02:35:26 pm ---[...]
Have already dead several officers thinking if they fire or not fire

--- End quote ---

That's why cops have to be good -  to make the right call at the right time.   Mistakes are probably inevitable, but we have to cut down on unnecessary and preventable mistakes.
paulca:

--- Quote from: SilverSolder on June 18, 2020, 03:23:37 pm ---
--- Quote from: vodka on June 18, 2020, 02:35:26 pm ---[...]
Have already dead several officers thinking if they fire or not fire

--- End quote ---

That's why cops have to be good -  to make the right call at the right time.   Mistakes are probably inevitable, but we have to cut down on unnecessary and preventable mistakes.

--- End quote ---

A friend of mine put it quite well when he said

In some professions you can have a bad apple or someone not really capable of the job.  Other people can pick up the slack.

In other professions you simply cannot.  Surgeons or pilots for example.  Simpy because minor mistakes cost lives and there is no acceptable room or limit for that.

The US police force with the prevalence of firearms in their country would also fall into that category.  Minor mistakes like shooting an unarmed teenager in the back... minor...  just can't happen.  There should be zero tolerance for that.
Navigation
Message Index
Next page
Previous page
There was an error while thanking
Thanking...

Go to full version
Powered by SMFPacks Advanced Attachments Uploader Mod