So keep using whatever language you want.
That’s good to know. Here in the UK a nappy is what we call a diaper, and definitely not a type of hair!
I’ve mostly seen it referred to on the internet as ‘black hair’ and ‘natural hair’, which are both way too unspecific for most contexts. Circle hair is a new one, I wonder if it’ll catch on?
Political correctness is to some extent an American export, so we get all this stuff second hand. Maybe that contributes to the confusion. I remember a few years ago a couple of British actors got in trouble for saying ‘coloured’ in an interview. I was surprised at the time that they didn’t know it was frowned upon, but it is surprising what people don’t know. Between all the different races, nationalities, disabilities, sexual orientations etc, there’s plenty of ways to get it wrong.
Interesting point. The proverbial cishet-white-males with no disabilities are actually in a decided minority themselves. Being a member of a ‘minority’ certainly doesn’t insulate you from fear of offending someone else, or fear of being judged as a bigot of some kind. That makes it less surprising that the poll I linked to in the other thread showed people of all races believe political correctness is a problem. Perhaps many people would prefer to tolerate some possibly offensive language in order not to have to walk on eggshells themselves? Or maybe they’re hypocrites, who knows.
I would have though this was one of those silly examples of political correctness gone wrong, but nope, people are defending it. No cost too high, no benefit too negligible.
What is the high cost in this case?
A trivial software change like this in a serious product probably costs at least $1K.
Then add at least a few seconds of confusion times millions of users.
And nobody has yet articulated any real benefit beyond some vague “maybe it makes some oppressed person happier”. I kind of suspect oppressed persons have bigger fish to fry (or is that non-PC because some people are allergic to fish?).
At this level, this is a first-world problem of the worst kind.
Fix things that matter, of which there are plenty. Don’t squander time, money, and folks’ give-a-**** on things that don’t. That’s pretty basic strategy.
That doesn’t sound like a high cost, especially not for a big company. And helping to move “master” and “slave” out of casual, non historical usage in language seems like a reasonable goal to me. YMMV, but just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s wrong to change it. This is a tiny change in the scheme of things - why expend any worry about it? It’s literally no big deal.
It was an illustration. Someone worried about it, spent money on it. Nobody has illustrated a value to the change yet. You keep ignoring points, like folks’ time. That adds up, is worth something. If there’s value, sure; but you have not demonstrated any.
Meanwhile, a thousand here, a thousand there…you know the saying. Tell you what, go to your management and tell them you want to spend a thousand dollars making a change that has no discernible positive value and see what they say. Yes, someone rammed this one through–I’m baffled as to how, beyond “It looks good, like we care”. Because there’s no utility to it.
And you’re ignoring the strategic value of not making people think that PC = crazy. See previous post. You can ignore that aspect, but you’re losing the battle if you do. It’s pretty basic human nature.
Also note that this particular use of “master” didn’t even have a “slave” version associated with it! Which reminds me: am I still allowed to master a skill?
It gets silly pretty quickly, and this one is pretty clearly (to me, and others who have mentioned it to me) an example of that.
Maybe. Seems to me to be a total waste of time to expend any worry about it. Kind of like a gift to those who really see PC as something to worry about, rather than the overblown nonsense that it appears to be.
I’ve found that people doing the big work rarely discourage the little work. People discouraging the little work tend to oppose the big work.
People are defending the “master password” hypothetical? Who?
Eh? That was…opaque.
You’re convinced that people who are oppressed don’t think this is worth doing, given the bigger work that needs doing. Somehow every time I hear that argument raised, it’s by people who aren’t doing the big work, either.
Not exactly what I said, and pretty arrogant. Just because someone isn’t at the forefront of the effort doesn’t mean their thoughts are less valid.
My point–as I said pretty clearly–is that this petty, irrelevant stuff devalues the efforts on the big stuff that is worth doing. And that I doubt that the people that this is allegedly being done on behalf of are likely to think the petty stuff is worth doing, when there is bigger stuff that is worth doing.
If you let the small stuff ferment and become the big stuff, then the big stuff becomes the catastrophic stuff.
Examples?
Is this a trick question? You are defending it, iiandyiiii is defending it. Czarcasm too. Also it was an actual, not a hypothetical.
So, what I’m hearing is that your feelings only matter if you’re a minority. That probably wasn’t what you intended to say. I’m guessing the idea is that if everyone suffers a little discomfort then we can avoid a few people suffering a lot of discomfort, which makes sense. But the second person’s discomfort isn’t nothing, and it doesn’t make you or the concept look good to dismiss it.
It still amazes me that someone who talks about microagressions would totally dismiss the impact of being corrected repeatedly and/or feeling like you have to walk on eggshells, and of having bad motives imputed to them if they disagree in any particular:
Here, iiandyiiii, is another problem with political correctness. This is not really my problem, but one I have heard conservatives complain about. It’s that progressives seem to have tender care for the feelings of minorities, for example those potentially upset by seeing the word ‘master’ used for a password, but if anyone complains these changes are making their lives more difficult, that they are confused by them, feel anxious and insecure, or just don’t see the benefit, they get told to buck up and stop whining, or threatened with being called racist. Sure, you might not change anything for them, but why the total lack of sympathy?
So can you give us some of the examples? Because the most extreme example mentioned so far is still supported by you.
I don’t ask, iiandyiiii. I don’t want to look ignorant. And I’m not really worried about being corrected. I’m worried about hurting someone accidentally and about being judged by other people. Ah, here it comes:
Compared to a Trump supporter. 
You probably should have left women off that list. 
I do believe women suffer discrimination in several ways, but I’m still concerned about this issue. Hell, I think in many ways things have got worse for women over the last 20 years, and progressives have contributed to that. So this isn’t exactly a persuasive argument.
And I don’t know what ‘not up for difficult discussions’ is supposed to mean. Even supposing I actually preferred a world without PC, I still have to deal with living in this one. All I can do is do my best and hope to muddle through, like most people.
It’s ultimately a form of thought control using social pressure and now threats of physical violence and financial ruin. It’s no different than theological regimes dictating how to pray and punishing lack of piety. Exchange ideological with theological. Exchange politically incorrect with blasphemous.
Being polite used to mean, among other things, not discussing religion and politics in mixed company. We don’t do that anymore.
Good PC: Lets not call descendants of African slaves niggers anymore. And maybe we should try to rectify the socio_economic effects of 400 years of racism.