Linux team approves new terminology, bans terms like 'blacklist' and 'slave'

Re:Linux team approves new terminology, bans terms like 'bla... by andy_ppp on Monday July 13, 2020 @08:27AM (#23820001)

Sigh, really? Is this stuff really about race or is it just a terminology used to express ideas - I really don't feel policing of language this way helps make important changes in society that need to be addressed more likely. These sort of things are at worst a distraction and at best likely to result in the opposite of what people want and leads to resentment of fundamentally good causes.

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Re:Linux team approves new terminology, bans terms like 'bla... by mathieuh on Monday July 13, 2020 @08:33AM (#23820044)

I think it’s important to get black people’s opinions on this, it’s easy to sit here as a white person and say “it’s just a word! PC gone mad!”. Speaking for myself, I don’t know if you’re black or whatever.

Words are very important, I’m sure we’ve all heard a stirring speech or debate that made us feel strongly, is it so ridiculous to think that words like this could also make some communities feel strongly?

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Re:Linux team approves new terminology, bans terms like 'bla... by sys_64738 on Monday July 13, 2020 @11:04AM (#23821491)

Words hurt a lot. People might downplay then but there's a psychology of silence associated with prejudicial words. Not everybody sees it or cares but the focus should always be to remove these obstacles to target inclusion. If this requires an extra code review cycle to remove prohibited words then just do it already.

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Re:Linux team approves new terminology, bans terms like 'bla... by chadcmulligan on Monday July 13, 2020 @09:48AM (#23820693)

My wife used to say that a lot of the words were sexist and violent in programming - e.g. when I talked about killing a child process, I never thought about it, but some do it seems.

(I've also had women say, they'd never become programmers - its to competitive and macho), to be more inclusive language means something to many people. I'd feel silly for example if instead of saying fork a process, we say we nurture a child process. I can't speak to race - grumpy old white guy, but I can see how it would matter.

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Re:Linux team approves new terminology, bans terms like 'bla... by david38 on Monday July 13, 2020 @10:38AM (#23821215)

Girls in school avoid CS because the dudes themselves were assholes. I saw this firsthand countless times.

Once critical mass is reached (enough girls where they don’t feel like outsiders) the machismo calms down. Not once have I ever heard a girl in class say anything about the language. It’s always been about the behavior of the boys.

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Re:Linux team approves new terminology, bans terms like 'bla... by andy_ppp on Monday July 13, 2020 @10:10AM (#23820950)

But this is where new meaning has been attached to words by the people using them. Words alone apart from one specific word aren’t inherently racist or in the example you give anything to do with juvenile murder.

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Re:Linux team approves new terminology, bans terms like 'bla... by stunt on Monday July 13, 2020 @10:05AM (#23820901)

There are studies that support the fact that language influences culture. And at least some sectors like education system and some universities already have guidelines to use inclusive language.

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