[maximus-decimus]

whitelist = good allowed things

blacklist = bad, forbidden things

=>

white = good

black = bad

Associating something being black with it being bad/lesser/evil is problematic if you're trying to get rid of racism toward black people.

[ogogmad]

White is good because it's the colour of natural light. Black is bad because it's the colour of darkness, which is dangerous because you can't see. Children are afraid of the dark.

The fact that people's skin colour is sometimes described as white or black is a coincidence that doesn't relate to the origin of the word blacklist.

If people are offended by coincidences like this, it means that we won't be able to speak Spanish, Russian or Chinese. The Russian word for black (as in a black person) is negr; but note that this is not considered offensive in Russian.

[rbanffy]

> White is good because it's the colour of natural light.

In a post about a world flag someone mentioned that, for the Chinese, white is associated with death.

[ogogmad]

You've fixated on a minor detail. The origin of the word "blacklist" is described here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacklisting#Origins_of_the_te...

It has never had anything to do with race.

If we can't say certain words because of linguistic coincidences, then we won't be able to speak Spanish.

In all your responses to me, you have been arguing for the sake of arguing.

[rbanffy]

The origin is irrelevant if it's found offensive. If you tell me what I'm doing offends you, I'll try to change my behavior.

[refurb]

Please stop talking entirely because it offends me.

You game?

[zo1]

Not OP.

How about we look at the word mansplaining? I think it's unfairly promoting sexism and gender stereotypes about my gender.

I also find mention of "cis" very offensive. Likewise the term cis white male too.

[tomp]

white lies

whitewashing

white collar crime (why not “black suit crime”?)

You’re hallucinating an issue that doesn’t actually exist.

[refurb]

Blacksmith

Black and Tan

Plenty of “black” compound words that are neutral to positive.

It’s not about the words, it’s about power. They want to force you to do what they say.. Even for something trivial like this, if they can force you to do use their language, they make a small win.

A few hundred wins later and they dictate what is acceptable language.

[Ma8ee]

Your examples are actually supporting the argument. White lies are innocent, not so bad lies, much better than black lies. White washing is making something look better than it actually is, that is: make it look white = make it look better. And the only one that doesn't automatically use "white" as good is "white collar", but that is because here the distinction is between "white collar" and "blue collar".

[tomp]

Haha you’re right. I never thought about it this way, I just took words as whole, and these words are all negative (in my mind). Although technically you could say the same about “blacklist”, people want the same concept (blocking, which isn’t necessarily negative) but don’t want to associate it with race.