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'Master' and 'slave': Tech terms face scrutiny amid anti-racism efforts

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Simon:

--- Quote from: SparkyFX on June 20, 2020, 07:59:03 am ---
--- Quote from: james_s on June 19, 2020, 05:07:48 pm ---There are so many people out there who seem obsessed with white-knighting for groups of people they themselves do not even belong to and it drives me nuts.

--- End quote ---
The empathy of others drives you nuts? There is this "Golden Rule" which people that just try to get along usually live by, trying to vilify it as white-knighting is as good as trying to vilify off context terms like master and slave. If you prefer more scientific descriptions look up "mirror neurons".


--- End quote ---

No the problem is people trying to find a problem to solve for someone else that did not ask for it to be solved. I did some first aid training once and the guy doing it told us of an incident where he was explaining to a group that included a black person that to check for some thing (can't remember what) look at skin colour of the face, if it's pale the patient is in trouble as there is no blood getting round. He pointed out that in the case of a black person where a slight change in skin colour is unlikely due to lack of blood circulation to check inside their mouth. A hite person took offense on behalf of the black person who was perfectly fine with the explanation which made sense and was to help saves someone life. But no stupid SJW are happy to let black people die in the event they need first aid because the nuances in training to help them best should not be allowed. This is where it becomes ridiculous.

tggzzz:
Many things in life are ridiculous, most of them to do with Other People.

Somebody ought to have pithly introduced that warrior to the concepts of alligators, swamps, and civil engineering.

bd139:

--- Quote from: tggzzz on June 20, 2020, 08:12:24 am ---Many things in life are ridiculous, most of them to do with Other People.

--- End quote ---

One reason I avoid them where possible.

tom66:

--- Quote from: EEVblog on June 20, 2020, 01:13:44 am ---I don't mind people getting upset or offended at something I said, that's ok. But once I explain to them the context and the intention, that should be that, end of discussion. But sadly in the vast majority of cases that doesn't happen, these people are simply incapable of understanding nuance and context. And it is impossible to hold any rational conversation with them.
--- End quote ---

This is the biggest problem for me.  There are certain words, like the N-word, which have no legitimate use.  They are purely racist slurs.  It is right to call people racist for using those terms against another, without valid context (historical accuracy for instance, when depicting a racist character.)

But words like retarded, stupid, idiot: these words are usually valid in some context, and should remain valid in these contexts.  Of course it is offensive to call a person retarded if they have a mental disability, and that is not OK, it is the same as bullying. But using the word itself, should not be offensive. And attempting to prescribe language like this is very 1984-esque.

Simon:

--- Quote from: tom66 on June 20, 2020, 08:35:26 am ---
--- Quote from: EEVblog on June 20, 2020, 01:13:44 am ---I don't mind people getting upset or offended at something I said, that's ok. But once I explain to them the context and the intention, that should be that, end of discussion. But sadly in the vast majority of cases that doesn't happen, these people are simply incapable of understanding nuance and context. And it is impossible to hold any rational conversation with them.
--- End quote ---

This is the biggest problem for me.  There are certain words, like the N-word, which have no legitimate use.  They are purely racist slurs.  It is right to call people racist for using those terms against another, without valid context (historical accuracy for instance, when depicting a racist character.)

But words like retarded, stupid, idiot: these words are usually valid in some context, and should remain valid in other contexts.  Of course it is offensive to call a person retarded if they have a mental disability, and that is not OK, it is the same as bullying. But using the word itself, should not be offensive. And attempting to prescribe language like this is very 1984-esque.

--- End quote ---

But if the medical definition of a mental disability is retarded, which literally means slowed which is what a learning difficulty is, a retardation in mental development. But now it's offensive because someone decided and changed the word. Now they are special needs which is also the new slur.

Whilst black people call themselves niggers I struggle to understand how it can be considered racist although it's not a word I would use to refer to a black person. We had an incident here on the forum where someone posted a video of a black person referring to themselves as a nigger, someone else who was not aware of the, um.. context (stupidity) then went on to refer to the black person as a nigger at which point I get a report from someone outraged demanding their banning and oh how intolerable this was. Well I was confused as the user usually does not use such language so I back tracked a bit and found the video and realized what had happened.

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