On Fri, Feb 23, 2024 at 11:24:39AM +0100, Marco Moock wrote: > Am 23.02.2024 schrieb Alain D D Williams <a...@phcomp.co.uk>: > > > It is "fixing" an issue for today's English speakers. Should we scour > > our systems looking for similar issues in other languages ?
[...] Fifty years ago it was "normal" to beat kids with a ruler (I know from experience). Should we stop doing this now? I'd say yes, but perhaps that's just me. > > say, 20 years time when different words will then be considered > > offensive, by some, do this all again ? > > In Germany, some organizations do that as well - and most people are > annoyed by that because it has no benefit. While I do agree that reality is complex, and that it not always makes sense, dismissing it right away because it doesn't matter to *you* is also wrong. > The most important thing is that the upstream projects would need to > change that - including all the translators. > > This is always a PITA - for no realistic benefit. No benefit to *you* perhaps. See, I'm watching this space (free software and friends) for quite a while now. I've watched it since before the birth of Linux. Since then, the diversity of people involved has increased quite a bit (it could be better, mind you). So the array of things which matter has widened. It isn't unplausible that the terminology "slave" is offensive to someone outside your (or my) bubble. So it does make sense to listen to others than just going by one's "gut feeling". Here's [1] one ref on that. So yes, it might matter to some. And to all those "I only take technical decisions". Folks: tech is as much about physics and chemistry as it is about anatomy and social science; after all, it is made by humans for humans. And as to what happens when you have a strong selection bias in technical design, [2] seems to be the standard ref those days. I just don't get it. If people isn't interested in the topic, fine. Debian is huge, and no one can be interested in every topic. Just keep out. But this kind of strong reactions... - "there is no good reason *why*" - "US political feel-good activism" [3] - "wastes people's time" ... as seen in this thread, to a simple question? Nah. And now, I'm out of that thread myself (oh, another package: git's default branch name "master" has become "main" these days. No kittens were sacrified for that). Cheers [1] https://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/psn/2022/09/inclusive-language [2] Carolina Criado Pérez "Invisible Women" Exposing data bias in a world designed for men Penguin Random House, 2019 [3] The OP was asking from Austria, and given their name, is Austrian, but hey, there you go. Perhaps there was some contagion via Schwarzenegger -- I hear he is (*horrors*) in California. -- tomás
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