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

[wraper]

Watch this:

Unless the court succumbs to "idiot thug lives matter", this cop will be exonerated.

[Nominal Animal]

Coming up next: The Linux Foundation puts a ban on the kill command on allegations that it entices admins toward violence.  The next versions of Linux will come with a new command: dearnastyprocesswouldyoubesokindastoterminatepleasethankyou.

They'll have to change the ISO/IEC 9945 and IEEE Std 1003.1 international standards (a.k.a. POSIX) first.  It's littered with 'kill' (signals, threads) and 'slave' (pseudoterminals) and 'man' (manual pages).

[DimitriP]

Watch this:

Unless the court succumbs to "idiot thug lives matter", this cop will be exonerated.

They are only delaying "mostly peaceful protests" for now.
 

[vodka]

I'm completely against the antifas and the BLM movement, but in the USA you've got a problem with the police guys:

That stupid guy got what he deserved. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. If you want to live, you don't punch a police officer in the face, steal taser and then shoot with it at police officer.  BTW he was a felon on parole, not some innocent guy.

Watch this:

On resume, anti-white racism . What do they pretend?  Jailing  the officers until begining the trial? Why? Are officers a public danger when they are unarmed and they already have  not authority.
Could be they destroy evidence?

[PlainName]

Jailing  the officers until begining the trial? Why? Are officers a public danger when they are unarmed

Might be a flight risk. If you reckon you're likely to be locked up for 20 years or even face execution, Mexico could look quite attractive as an abode.

[paulca]

Just remember the point of police is not to bring justice, but to bring to justice.  There is a fundamental difference and it is very easily put that police are not well trained enough in the law to serve justice and they will agree that.  Police serving justice is worse than a kangeroo court.

On US police (and citizen) gun violence.  Nothing will happen until first they admit there is a problem.

No matter what argument put forward for free and near regulation-less gun ownership and carry, the simple answer, "Well, that seems to be working out well, doesn't it", pretty much covers it.

[tom66]

Defund the police is stupid. A country needs a functioning police force to have a functional society. Even most libertarians, wanting as little state as possible, agree some form of police is necessary.

The problem is the police in the US have too much power.  Their unions and fellow officers protect each other.  It doesn't matter if there are just a "few bad apples" if they all shield each other from scrutiny.  As @dunkemhigh says, we are in an increasing age where everyone has a phone, CCTV, and officers in some states are required to have body cameras.

In the UK, in order to become a police officer you need to hold a degree or an equivalent form of higher education.  Whereas many police departments in the US expressly prohibit police from having any form of higher education.  Why is this?  It's as if the administration want dumb worker bees, not someone who can think on their feet and respond appropriately, de-escalating where possible.  It seems in the USA, police govern by force, whereas in the UK and in many other countries, police govern by consent.

[paulca]

Worse is they hired an unproportionate number of ex-military, including PTSD vetrans.

As an external viewer, I can't help but think....

Punishment for fleeing police:  Death by firing squad.
Punishment for resisting arrest:  Death by firing squad.
Punishment for denying police:  Death by firing squad.
It sounds familiar, but it sort of escapes me right now....  Oh.. yes, Godwin's law.

Once they have you as their focus, it does not matter what you did, what they think you did or whether you are a completely innocent bystander, once you are their focus you MUST OBEY EVERY COMMAND, no matter how unreasonable.  ANY attempt to resist, refuse or even delay in your immediately and fully subservant response to their orders will result in a massively out of proportion esculation by the police.  Any attempt to resist, defend yourself or flee results in... Death by firing squad.

So much for innocent until proven guilty.  So much for courts.  So much for freedom.

[SparkyFX]

Defund the police is stupid.

Stop to read headlines only... the movement describes it different. It means to shift responsibilities and funding outside typical police work to other groups - social workers presumably.

[DimitriP]

So much for innocent until proven guilty.  So much for courts.  So much for freedom.

Except when it comes to cops...right ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

[PlainName]

So much for innocent until proven guilty.  So much for courts.  So much for freedom.

Except when it comes to cops...right ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Don't know about the US but here in the UK if something happens that might require an investigation the policemen involved don't give a statement straight away. They are allowed a few days to 'recover' and then they all sit in a room to compare notes and collaborate, after which they write their statements. Imagine if your average gang members were afforded the same courtesy, but they're not for good reason.

[paulca]

So much for innocent until proven guilty.  So much for courts.  So much for freedom.

Except when it comes to cops...right ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

What do you mean?  They were tried in court, no?  They weren't shot in the back while running away unarmed.

[coppice]

So much for innocent until proven guilty.  So much for courts.  So much for freedom.

Except when it comes to cops...right ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Don't know about the US but here in the UK if something happens that might require an investigation the policemen involved don't give a statement straight away. They are allowed a few days to 'recover' and then they all sit in a room to compare notes and collaborate, after which they write their statements. Imagine if your average gang members were afforded the same courtesy, but they're not for good reason.

In the UK if you witness an event, and write up what happened, the first thing the police ask when you hand them the statement is how long after the event you wrote it. Anything more than an hour, and they regard it as largely useless as evidence for court use.

[coppice]

Defund the police is stupid. A country needs a functioning police force to have a functional society. Even most libertarians, wanting as little state as possible, agree some form of police is necessary.

The problem is the police in the US have too much power.  Their unions and fellow officers protect each other.  It doesn't matter if there are just a "few bad apples" if they all shield each other from scrutiny.  As @dunkemhigh says, we are in an increasing age where everyone has a phone, CCTV, and officers in some states are required to have body cameras.

In the UK, in order to become a police officer you need to hold a degree or an equivalent form of higher education.  Whereas many police departments in the US expressly prohibit police from having any form of higher education.  Why is this?  It's as if the administration want dumb worker bees, not someone who can think on their feet and respond appropriately, de-escalating where possible.  It seems in the USA, police govern by force, whereas in the UK and in many other countries, police govern by consent.

When you deal with officials in the US, they usually act like mindless automata. Its how they are trained to work. Being emotionless reduces friction. Following a set procedure improves the consistency of their behaviour. There are upsides to that way of working, but substantial downsides too. Its hard to say how it all balances out.

[vodka]

Worse is they hired an unproportionate number of ex-military, including PTSD vetrans.

As an external viewer, I can't help but think....

Punishment for fleeing police:  Death by firing squad.
Punishment for resisting arrest:  Death by firing squad.
Punishment for denying police:  Death by firing squad.
It sounds familiar, but it sort of escapes me right now....  Oh.. yes, Godwin's law.

Once they have you as their focus, it does not matter what you did, what they think you did or whether you are a completely innocent bystander, once you are their focus you MUST OBEY EVERY COMMAND, no matter how unreasonable.  ANY attempt to resist, refuse or even delay in your immediately and fully subservant response to their orders will result in a massively out of proportion esculation by the police.  Any attempt to resist, defend yourself or flee results in... Death by firing squad.

So much for innocent until proven guilty.  So much for courts.  So much for freedom.

They have to behavior like spanish police, leaving to kill. They can't use their reglamentary weapon if they haven't reciveid fire. The offender have to shoot first and after the police can fire. Of course,ever that the police() is not hit by the offender .
After we have the stupid law of proportional force.You must cause the minor damage to attacker. In example,if you have a gun and your attacker a knife,kill the aggresor is disproportional. you should have to injure in a no-vital point. What do happen if the agressor is drugged? You are lucky and you hit in leg and the attack may stops else you will be breeding worms.

Have already dead several officers thinking if they fire or not fire

[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]

So others could well be seeing offense in those words that I did not.

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]

[...]
Have already dead several officers thinking if they fire or not fire

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]

[...]
Have already dead several officers thinking if they fire or not fire

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.

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.

[wraper]

LOL

[daqq]

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.

Interestingly enough the propriety of the phrase "disabled people" is also in dispute by some ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_disability-related_terms_with_negative_connotations )

[TimFox]

As soon as a new euphemism for a group is generated, the general public, not known for empathy, will use it as an insult.  For example, the terms “moron” and “imbecile” were supposed to be more charitable than “idiot”, and “challenged” became an insult.

[bd139]

Lots left: dum dum, div, eejit, numpty, dingbat, twonk, plonker.

[james_s]

As soon as a new euphemism for a group is generated, the general public, not known for empathy, will use it as an insult.  For example, the terms “moron” and “imbecile” were supposed to be more charitable than “idiot”, and “challenged” became an insult.

When I was a kid, "retarded" was the politically correct term, then it became an insult and then I remember hearing other euphemisms, I think "developmentally disabled" was the next one that became common, and then "special", and "specially abled", and then I kind of lost track. Dwarf and midget were both official terms to describe two distinctly different conditions but last I heard "they" preferred to be called "little people" which to me sounds absolutely cringeworthy and condescending but whatever. I have no desire to be offensive but I've got better things to do than keep learning new euphemisms to describe the same thing. It's often easier to just not talk about something than to figure out the correct words to use, and no matter what you say somebody somewhere is going to take offense, put words in your mouth or interpret whatever you say in the most offensive way possible.