Linux Foundation's New Banned Words: Hung, Pow-Wow, and Sanity Check
Original: Linux Foundation's New Banned Words: Hung, Pow-Wow, & Sanity Check
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The Linux Foundation's new language guidelines have sparked heated debate, with some commenters branding the recommendations as "genuine insanity" and others defending the effort to promote inclusive language. While some argue that context matters and that certain words are being unfairly maligned, others worry that such guidelines could lead to a slippery slope where language is policed to the point of absurdity. A notable thread participant pointed out that the guidelines are merely suggestions, not outright bans, and that the real issue lies in interpreting them as such. As the discussion rages on, it highlights the complexities of navigating language and cultural sensitivity in the tech world.
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Interpreting this as “banning words” is genuine idiocy.
I wonder why they didn't include "privilege". Shouldn't it be "root rights" instead of "root privilege"?
When did this kind of thing become partisan? You can think people are weak or overreacting or stupid but it's another jump entirely to this idea of trying to silence "your political opponents" from talking about their lives. I genuinely am surprised by this attitude of openly embracing bullying especially from a side that used to bang a drum hard of "mind your own business".
And hey, maybe alleging that one is part of an evil oppressive race, and all they have is stolen [1], is hurtful too. It certainly has consequences [2,3,4,5,6].
[1] “you can’t steal nothin from a/ white man, he’s already stole it he owes you anything you want,/ even his life.” - Lauded poet Amiri Baraka https://poetry.princeton.edu/2008/04/13/malcolm-x/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiri_Baraka
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Richard_Everitt
[3] https://www.fox13news.com/news/police-fatal-beating-of-st-pe...
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kriss_Donald
[5] https://apnews.com/general-news-90627b2363dd416e9f014c989ed8...
[6] https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/accused-killer-andrew-...
[7] https://www.mic.com/articles/60599/the-christopher-lane-murd...
[8] https://frontpagemag.com/2012/jamie-glazov/shot-for-being-wh...
I think it's actually bizarre to want to silence people from saying the phrase "deadnaming" or "microaggression" (your examples) even if you feel criticized. It feels bad faith when it reaches the point of "people who say A should be protected by the govt" and "people who say B should be constrained by the govt". Its extremely on the nose for the critique of modern conservative policy being "rules for thee but not for me". There's just not a lot behind "I should be able to say anything but people shouldn't be allowed to have their opinion about what I said".
Changing from those examples to other people feeling microaggressions from race based criticism is an interesting tact, but I'll bite. I like the idea of recognizing what kind of harm can be done but it falls flat to me when the argument 1. Ignores anyone else's similar experience and 2. suggests the answer is to not let people learn history.
I don't see myself being convinced to ban knowing about the systems of slavery and other racial prejudice in the US just because I dont want to acknowledge their consequences. Even if the ONLY people harmed were the white people you listed I probably wouldn't try to ban speech and knowledge (and they are certainly not the only people who have harm done to them over racial topics). That would make me feel like I'm not appreciating the country we have been given and I'd feel like am not properly taking care of it.
We've taken quite a meandering path here so I'll bring it back to the beginning. I agree with you that we shouldn't try to ban speech, but probably not for the same reasons.
[1] - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/foxreplace/
Grandfather/father/son has a generational aspect, so I would think grandparent/parent/child (or current) would work. Think tape backups. Alternate terms that express this generational aspect would have to be developed.
For hung I would think frozen is good as it’s in an unexpected state. I guess programs can’t crash anymore? Is it ok to say things get corrupted (ethics again)?
Synonyms have to share meaning to not increase the difficulty of development. It’s hard enough without misunderstanding situations.