When the Linux OOM killer decides to eliminate memory hog processes, it prints to the kernel logs a message of the form "Kill process [...] or sacrifice child".

Currently there are panic memes spread by idiots on Facebook about their crashed smart TVs satanically demanding the sacrifice of their children (like the ATM in American Psycho demanding a dead cat).

The language that you use to describe things in computing matters because you don't know who might be reading, how they may interpret it, or how important that person is to the future health of your project. The religious right is still tremendously powerful in the USA, open source still smells like communism to them, and open source that demands the blood sacrifice of their children may just mobilize them to attempt the complete destruction or discrediting of Linux itself and any manufacturer that uses it.

The "parent", "child", and "kill" terminology in terms of Unix processes has been around since forever ago. And they still cause alarm! There's a strong case to be made here for changing the terminology. Think, then, how much more alarming more loaded terms like "master" and "slave" must be. That is the thing that angered Spek to the point of using the N-slur -- which is itself intolerable in a professional context.

We all must work together in order to make our software more accessible to all. That means that hackers working closely with the DEI people -- and listening to their concerns -- needs to be table stakes for any open source project if you want broad adoption.