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by vlovich123 2194 days ago
I personally don’t care about this change (name your branches whatever the fuck you want), but I do care about flawed arguments.

> The terms we pick for our tools matter, and our current default branch name of master is problematic. The word master is too closely related to the word slave

I’ve heard this argument now several times and I’m still confused.

There are several definitions for the word master. The one that seems most appropo for source code management is:

> an original movie, recording, or document from which copies can be made

I don’t see how that one carries any kind of connotation of slavery.

I’ve heard a similar line of reasoning for blacklist/whitelist because “our culture has a connotation of black = bad, white = good” ignoring that that connotation isn’t racial and is cross-cultural. Black sheep are undesirable because you can’t dye their wool. The term blackball is referring to a historical voting practice that had nothing to do with race (and likely where blacklist comes from with whitelist naturally coming many years later).

Can someone please provide a logically valid argument here based on facts? I’m eager to educate myself.

3 comments

Sadly it goes like this: 1) I see a word and it hurts my feelings 2) anything that hurts my feelings does me harm 3) we must prevent harm wherever possible 4) therefore you cannot say that word

Any question of how much harm is actually done, and whether that much harm is worth restricting speech, is never addressed. If you disagree you are called a bigot/homophobe /whatever who is silencing the voices of persons of color/gender/whatever and creating an unsafe environment. So you must lose your job and be cast out.

> Can someone please provide a logically valid argument here based on facts?

I don't think there is one. This push is entirely about ignoring context. The exact same misunderstanding is going through the Magic: The Gathering card game right now:

The five colors of magic are Black, White, Blue, Red, Green. Each is associated with a location (swamp, plains, island, mountain, forest) and have general themes strongly associated with them (corruption/death, order, knowledge/manipulation, destruction, life). Note how none of these have anything to do with race... except several cards have now been deemed racist because "black" and "white" are now being interpreted not as one of the colors of magic, but as a reference to race outside the game.

I understand your frustration. But the only fact that matters is that marginalized people face various levels of racism every day. This naming issue is a small, unintentional matter–I don't believe _anyone_ is saying otherwise. But some people don't get a chance to dive into etymology before making the connection with slavery.

I'm thinking renaming isn't so much the important bit, but it is an easy first step: what real, impactful changes can we as technologists make happen next?

How are you measuring impact?

My concern with this is it’s easy to write off as virtue signaling. Right now is a moment where you can get people who wouldn’t agree with you on board with deep important structural changes. Going after something like this feels like just a waste of energy and distracts from those problems, especially when you’re wrong on the facts

> How are you measuring impact?

And they'd say "why not do this change if it makes a feel people feel better".