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by 0xdeadb00f 2149 days ago
Except how is a blacklist "bad" and a whitelist "good" ? I've never thought of it this way; I dont think many people have but I could he wrong.

If there was some race related history to the words I could understand, but I thought they were called this way purely because the colours black and white are opposites, like how a blacklist is the opposite to a whitelist and vice versa.

1 comments

I have always thought the analogizing of white to “good” and black to “bad” comes directly from absence of light (dark; black) or the presence of light (bright; white).

Because we are not nocturnal creatures, darkness == scary and daytime == security so therefore black == bad and white == good.

I can see how one who is hyper-focused on race might see that as problematic, but to me, “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”

I agree; this is how I've understood the terms for as long as I've been aware of and used them.

The lack of light = black, and light which includes literally all colours = white.

When light is "blocked" from passing, black. When light is "allowed" to pass, white.

I look forward to seeing what other concepts can be mutated to make a point on unrelated topics.