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

[Nominal Animal]

The next time someone brings crackers to the coffee room, I'll throw up a worldwide shitstorm for making me feel offended.  Fair enough?

Instead, I'd give you a non-offensive, present. Such as..

That's exactly what makes this a neverending swamp.  I'd love for those who have better terms just start using them, showing a good example, instead of "you stop using these terms, or we ban you, and ruin your life".  (I definitely believe having ones contributions discarded or ignored because of technically correct but socially insensitive terms, banning and ruining ones life.)

Even though we ostensibly live in an information society, all the bulk channels ("mainstream media") seem to have strict filters on things they let pass through.

I miss the times when we still had actual journalism, and reporters reported events, instead of spinning narratives and considering themselves to be the Guardians of Information Proper for General Consumption and Responsible for Correct Opinion Shaping.  Oh, the examples I could give from recent events in Finland...

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

Ones' race can't be "fluid" too?

[Nominal Animal]

Ones' race can't be "fluid" too?

Like Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes (Johnny Otis) in the 1950s? CNN.

[SilverSolder]

I'm just off a conf call related to work, where a lot of time was spent preparing a review presentation in such a way as to not offend anyone (i.e. no implicit criticism of any team... sales, engineering, support, IT, all had to look good no matter what).  I pointed out that if we don't flag up any problems to senior management, how can we show we improved anything at the next review and be eligible for any bonus?  - That focused minds wonderfully and realism started to infuse the presentation in short order.  It turned out that it was perfectly possible to discuss problems without being directly offensive to anyone, after all!

[SilverSolder]

Ones' race can't be "fluid" too?

In the apartheid days in South Africa, there were strict rules about who could live in what neighbourhood/township depending on classification along racial lines.  Of course, humans being humans, sometimes there would be love affairs that straddled these lines.  No problem...  the person from the lesser township could be reassessed and reclassified to fit into the "white" area, after sufficient amounts of paperwork!

[MK14]

That's exactly what makes this a neverending swamp.  I'd love for those who have better terms just start using them, showing a good example, instead of "you stop using these terms, or we ban you, and ruin your life".  (I definitely believe having ones contributions discarded or ignored because of technically correct but socially insensitive terms, banning and ruining ones life.)

Even though we ostensibly live in an information society, all the bulk channels ("mainstream media") seem to have strict filters on things they let pass through.

I miss the times when we still had actual journalism, and reporters reported events, instead of spinning narratives and considering themselves to be the Guardians of Information Proper for General Consumption and Responsible for Correct Opinion Shaping.  Oh, the examples I could give from recent events in Finland...

You're right.
Our BBC, seems to show excessive Political Correctness. So, that the real news details, often get filtered out. Which is somewhat silly, unfortunately.
So, these days, you end up, googling, to find out (unfiltered), what really happened.

This (threads) Political Correctness, of Source Code, and similar files. Is probably a big can of worms, and could be rather problematic in the future.

E.g. Could an employee, claim damages, because they read "BlackList, WhiteList Master Slave" etc, in some source code, from twenty years ago.
So they now want £45,000 in damages, for the suffering and hurt, after reading that in the source code.

[Simon]

You're right.
Our BBC, seems to show excessive Political Correctness. So, that the real news details, often get filtered out. Which is somewhat silly, unfortunately.
So, these days, you end up, googling, to find out (unfiltered), what really happened.

In this case it wasn't even filtered news, it was non news and an opinion that should have been told what to go do with itself.

[MK14]

In this case it wasn't even filtered news, it was non news and an opinion that should have been told what to go do with itself.

This does seem to happen quite a lot. Instead of the important, real news items, that matter, being reported on the BBC.
It will be some, relatively insignificant and unimportant, non-newsworthy story.

An example (carefully chosen, to NOT encourage off-topic debate).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53585066

TikTok blasts 'copycat' Facebook as US starts probe

So, instead of reporting, important and/or semi-important, UK and world-wide news stories, that matter.
They are making what could be interpreted as advertising, about the US (remember/hint we are the UK), and it is just 'Title tattle', somewhat non-news.

[PlainName]

So, instead of reporting, important and/or semi-important, UK and world-wide news stories, that matter.

See in that link you posted where it says '../technology-...', that means this is the technology section. Forget anything that isn't technology for a start, then let's have a look at what they're headlining in that section.

So, at this very moment the headline is the US tech giants grilling in Congress, then there's the Wiley tweets thing, another bit on the grilling, Bezo's missus donating $1.7bn to charity, National trust victim of a hack, nipple tassle in a recipe earning a reprimand(!), Turkey's MPs voting for something, etc.

I think TikTok happens to be where it is because the stories are timestamped. The latest update (for me now) is 22:44 with the grilling, 19:58 with Wiley, 18:48 another Wiley, 16:30 TickTol, 15:11 Google smart glasses refund, etc.

It's just one of several technology stories. And, actually, it could be quite important 'world-wide' too since it's just part of the tit-for-tat thing that Trump has going with China at the moment. On a par with the Huawei thing, possibly, if it escalates.

Go on then: what would you put there in its place? Give us your best BBC Technology News page articles.

[MK14]

Go on then: what would you put there in its place? Give us your best BBC Technology News page articles.

Here we go.

https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/29/chinese_ambassador_uk_threats_over_huawei/

Chinese ambassador to UK threatens to withdraw Huawei, £3bn investment if comms giant banned from building 5G

And ..

https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/29/amd_q2_2020/

AMD is now following More's Law: More chips, more money, more pressure on Intel, more competition in the x86 space

[PlainName]

That it? You've got a page to fill. I note that El Reg had nothing to say about the Virgin blackout but nevertheless found space to go on about some New Zealand things. Looks like you can layer whataboutery on them too if you were so inclined.

In the end, it hardly matters. You either like reading what they post or not, and if you don't there are other sources. Personally, the BBC site seems to be aimed at toddlers with a 2-second attention span so I rarely visit. Didn't realise I should be upset about that.

[MK14]

That it? You've got a page to fill. I note that El Reg had nothing to say about the Virgin blackout but nevertheless found space to go on about some New Zealand things. Looks like you can layer whataboutery on them too if you were so inclined.

In the end, it hardly matters. You either like reading what they post or not, and if you don't there are other sources. Personally, the BBC site seems to be aimed at toddlers with a 2-second attention span so I rarely visit. Didn't realise I should be upset about that.

It's straying too off-topic, so I will leave the BBC website, and its criticisms alone. But, to answer your specific points, for now.
There are plenty of proper examples possible, but (as previously hinted at), they would risk straying this topic, into off-topic realms.
You're right, the BBC website does seem to have been watered down, to at least an extent.

[paulca]

But everyone says dub dub dub 

Hmmm.  No.  Maybe just you guys in England.  You have never been good with your own language really. 

[bd139]

Almost universal in the tech industry. Have worked with Israelis, Americans, Germans, Ukranians, Indians, Japanese, Belarussians, French and heard it everywhere.

[paulca]

Almost universal in the tech industry. Have worked with Israelis, Americans, Germans, Ukranians, Indians, Japanese, Belarussians, French and heard it everywhere.

Never heard it before in my life.

[coppice]

Almost universal in the tech industry. Have worked with Israelis, Americans, Germans, Ukranians, Indians, Japanese, Belarussians, French and heard it everywhere.

Universal is an exaggeration, but its very common among the kind of people who like to abbreviate everything.

[bd139]

When I'm paying per hour I want them to abbreviate everything 

[magic]

I miss the times when we still had actual journalism, and reporters reported events, instead of spinning narratives and considering themselves to be the Guardians of Information Proper for General Consumption and Responsible for Correct Opinion Shaping.  Oh, the examples I could give from recent events in Finland...

Make no mistakes, you miss the days when the Whitenormative Patriarchal Social Order enforced a certain degree of cultural and ideological uniformity and one could trust that others feel roughly the same about most important political issues and there was no need to carefully spin everything with considerations to how every damn minority will try to re-spin it for their own agenda.

That's a rather problematic thing to miss, comrade

[maginnovision]

If you look at Zach Goldbergs twitter you'll see some data he's been looking at regarding media/twitter. Here is a sneek peek. Essentially the way the media is fighting the lack of relevance is by writing news with an agenda for a specific audience rather than for america in general. At least that's what I got from it.

[themadhippy]

seems the bbc is dammed if they do and dammed if they dont, with another example of people getting upset on behalf of others
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/ofcom-280-complaints-bbc-news-131651968.html

[bd139]

This is the proto-nazis being legitimised by the current thought fads around.

[Nominal Animal]

I miss the times when we still had actual journalism, and reporters reported events, instead of spinning narratives and considering themselves to be the Guardians of Information Proper for General Consumption and Responsible for Correct Opinion Shaping.  Oh, the examples I could give from recent events in Finland...

you miss the days when the Whitenormative Patriarchal Social Order enforced a certain degree of cultural and ideological uniformity

Exactly the opposite.  I miss the times when you could get more than one view of events.  When you could actually see and listen to discussions where the opponents had totally different viewpoints, but explained their reasons for the differences, instead of asserting correctness and the evility of their opponent.

I miss the times when reported described things that were happening, instead of presenting opinions about what was actually happening.

I miss Spitting Image and making fun of politicians and celebrities and self-important people.  Now, outside of Orange Man Bad and Putin Did It, there is very little to none of it.

Now, I have to be careful when asked "have you listened to blah", because listening to the Other Side makes you a nazi and therefore legitimate target of cancellation or even violence.  I like to listen to all sorts of people, not because I trust them, but because there is always a reason, a basis, for their opinions, and understanding those reasons helps one understand how other people see the world.  Because of this, I am an Enemy to just about every clique you can think of, unless I keep myself extremely private.

When Political Correctness became mainstream, openness and plain civility died.  Intelligence and reason is out, eusocial behaviour in.

[paulca]

This is the proto-nazis being legitimised by the current thought fads around.

I think the far left have gone so far left the Integer overflowed and they suddenly ended up on the far right and haven't worked it out yet.

[Siwastaja]

I miss the times when you could get more than one view of events.  When you could actually see and listen to discussions where the opponents had totally different viewpoints, but explained their reasons for the differences, instead of asserting correctness and the evility of their opponent.

I miss the times when reported described things that were happening, instead of presenting opinions about what was actually happening.

I miss Spitting Image and making fun of politicians and celebrities and self-important people.  Now, outside of Orange Man Bad and Putin Did It, there is very little to none of it.

Now, I have to be careful when asked "have you listened to blah", because listening to the Other Side makes you a nazi and therefore legitimate target of cancellation or even violence.  I like to listen to all sorts of people, not because I trust them, but because there is always a reason, a basis, for their opinions, and understanding those reasons helps one understand how other people see the world.  Because of this, I am an Enemy to just about every clique you can think of, unless I keep myself extremely private.

When Political Correctness became mainstream, openness and plain civility died.  Intelligence and reason is out, eusocial behaviour in.

And all of this happened so freaking quickly!

Just some 10 years ago we were seeing some minor signs of all this, I think we had quite acceptable track record on freedom of press, freedom of speech, and ability to discuss difficult matters. If you represented the "wrong" political views shared by the majority of the people, that wasn't a reason for the social services to start a process to take your kids away, or a reason to try to kill you.

I didn't take it seriously, most sane people didn't, I was joking about all the conspiracy theorist nutjobs, and now, suddenly, we live in a totalitarian nightmare with total media control, lack of traditional democratic processes and have seen them replaced with modern ways of circumventing democracy through both borderline legal (but unintended by those who originally designed the democratic principles), and even completely illegal means (made easier by the lack of constitutional court, and the political power and weak enforcement ability of the "constitutional law committee"), political violence, and terror, built in just 5 years, and it looks like we are still halfway there, it likely gets worse. All of this is "spiced up" with the terminology relevant to this thread, intersectional feminism now being the official operating principle of the Finnish government. I mean, the popularity of that was measured in a democratic process - the result being 0.3% - but now it's there anyway.

It happened so suddenly, almost no one was expecting it! And now that we have only the remainings left, I do appreciate the classical democracy more than ever. It never was perfect, but it was quite damn good thing to have.

Specifically, I miss TV and newspapers, which is surprising because I didn't like to watch TV or read newspapers that much, but now I do miss them. I miss normal neutral TV programmes or newspaper articles about anything. I miss news; we haven't got much any news for a year or two now, we just have long propaganda shows similar to what the Soviet Union used to have. Everything leads to the political point of view, there are very few non-political matters left. I could read "alternative media" or "lie media" as it's called here officially, trying to find the balance carefully, but really, I don't enjoy that at all. All I want is to keep most things non-political, because most things truly aren't political, and then keep the (fairly limited) view to politics as neutral as possible.

I know for a fact that the situation is not the same everywhere, yet; not even close. Do not pass it up as a joke when you see the signs, please.

All of this being said, I'm an eternal optimist so I believe it will get better again, and we will all forget this nightmare.

But there are always bad people around; there are psychopaths and sociopaths, and there will be people who are easy to abuse. The next big thing will be something else again, and I'm hoping there will be a decade or two of peaceful times inbetween, as history has shown.

edit: typos

[james_s]

Exactly the opposite.  I miss the times when you could get more than one view of events.  When you could actually see and listen to discussions where the opponents had totally different viewpoints, but explained their reasons for the differences, instead of asserting correctness and the evility of their opponent.

I miss the times when reported described things that were happening, instead of presenting opinions about what was actually happening.

I miss Spitting Image and making fun of politicians and celebrities and self-important people.  Now, outside of Orange Man Bad and Putin Did It, there is very little to none of it.

Now, I have to be careful when asked "have you listened to blah", because listening to the Other Side makes you a nazi and therefore legitimate target of cancellation or even violence.  I like to listen to all sorts of people, not because I trust them, but because there is always a reason, a basis, for their opinions, and understanding those reasons helps one understand how other people see the world.  Because of this, I am an Enemy to just about every clique you can think of, unless I keep myself extremely private.

When Political Correctness became mainstream, openness and plain civility died.  Intelligence and reason is out, eusocial behaviour in.

I used to listen to a podcast on NPR called Left, Right and Center. They had regular commentators from all three positions and would discuss politics and current events from the perspective of each and it was always remarkably civil. After the conservative commentator passed away suddenly it was never quite the same, they had a few different people fill in for him and I remember at least one was so rude and combative that it was obvious she missed the entire point of the show. I stopped listening not long after that and don't know if they still do it, things are probably too polarized and emotional now for it to work.