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GitHub, fuck your name change

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Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#691

Please name one country that never had slavery?

Well, as it was discussed in another thread, in another culture/language it may be totally not about slavery. I mean the word "master", which comes from a common Latin root, in different languages it's evolved into a different meaning. So for Americans, it has an association with slavery (which I'm surprised to learn), but exactly the same word "master" in another language means just "doing good work".

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#692

I’m a black American and agree with everything that this person in London wrote. It is also a common criticism of the American “left”, and is entirely accurate. For everyone perplexed about black Americans and other people of color walking away from the left, its because you/they don't see us as equals that can be bothered by the exact same things that other Americans can be bothered by: being told what to think, wat…

Perhaps, in the spirit of sharing useful insight within these kinds of discussions, as a black American you could educate me about something? For context, I am neither black nor American, I have little time for woke virtue-signalling and fake outrage, but I do want to be properly respectful of others whose background and sensitivities aren't necessarily like my own. With that in mind, I often find socially acceptable…

This is an example of the "Euphemism Treadmill." Words that refer to things that some portion of society hold negative views about acquire negative connotations over time. These words are then discarded by polite society for clean new words without the baggage. E.g. latrine to water closet to toilet to bathroom to restroom, or retarded to mentally handicapped to developmentally disabled. See: https://aeon.co/essays/euphemisms-are-like-underwear-best-ch...

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#693
post #668

My problem is that this is an American company trying to impose their culture to us. There are a lot of developers from China and India whom Github didn't even consider asking. Question is why should "we" who face far worse challenges than the Blacks in US be asked to change the name. That is what doesn't make sense to me. The idea imposition happens just because we are a poor country and nothing else. I am sure 20 y…

Why is the change of the name of the default branch such a hardship for you? Also how do you quantify far worse challenges? Are you treated worse relative to your other country people?

[deleted]

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#694
100x this. Can you blame them though, they're scared shitless of being called racist on the Twitters, so they do dumb things.

Apprenticeship programs are a great idea. I'm amazed at how credentialist software dev is becoming when all the best hardcore developers I know are largely self-educated.

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#695
post #429

Saying that the left spends too much effort on rhetoric might be valid criticism, but focusing on it as reasons to "walk away from the left" (which not too many black Americans are doing, BTW) is disingenuous. Sure, the left talks about rhetoric, but it also fights for higher wages, civil liberties, healthcare, affirmative action, investment in education, workers' rights, and voting rights. It's fine not to like ever…

Between 2016 and 2020 Trump gained six percentage points among black men, and five percentage points among Hispanic women. [0]

[0]: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54972389

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#696

I’m a black American and agree with everything that this person in London wrote. It is also a common criticism of the American “left”, and is entirely accurate. For everyone perplexed about black Americans and other people of color walking away from the left, its because you/they don't see us as equals that can be bothered by the exact same things that other Americans can be bothered by: being told what to think, wat…

In all fairness, this sort of silly business is more representative of the "Twitter left", comprised of cogs in a perpetual rage-inducing machine, than it is of "leftists" whose main objective is to address the limitations of capitalism, at varying degrees of willingness to work within the system vs burn it down. Of course, our media is run by billionaires so they capitalize on the identity politics to divide everyon…

Billionaires capitalize on identity politics and political division because it gets them advertising dollars. That's it. While I agree that economic policy certainly merits more discussion, an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory about "the elite" isn't any more productive than an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory about white people.

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#697
Around and round' we go:

1. https://youtu.be/ruP-WVgfkMM?t=197

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hm8wXZmRD8

And for those needing a qualifier: I'm mixed race, black/white—I've observed both sides of this my entire life. The answer isn't wordplay, it's directly investing in black communities.

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#698
post #592

I'm Asian, wasn't born in America and didn't grew up in America as well. I don't have a horse in this race. I don't feel annoyed to change that term. I'm only annoyed if someone guilt trip me if I don't change the name out of ignorance (i.e, I don't follow politics, no time for social media). I don't think I have any bias against women or minority in tech. Changing main or master or slave doesn't ring a bell or evoke…

>> First time I came to the US and I conversed with this Asian women friend, who told me that she wanted to go to business school, and I asked her "why business school?" and suddenly another Asian women (friend of her) cut me and said "Oh why not, because she is a woman?" and I was like "wow, where did that come from? what does that even mean?" and since that day I know that US racial issue is fucked up big time. It…

Oh yeah for sure, but this conversation already derailed, so no further dialog was necessary. I was coming from a point of view "small talk on a dinner table during hangout" and she came from a view of "You are sexist and I am mad at you" so, better to let the conversation die down and continue another time.

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#700

I want to share my own reactions to the name change since this is a really interesting topic. For context, I'm an African American, so many of my ancestors were slaves. - The first time it occurred to me that "master" in this context could offend anyone was when GitHub changed the name (and broke my workflow). - My immediate reaction was, "this change is by white people for white people," where "white" means anyone w…

> Thus it is a useful reminder of the implicit bias that contributes to the lack of diversity in tech. This is a useful reminder. It's a reminder that associative thinking can invert causal relationships and turn anything into a symbol for anything else. There is no rational limit to things that can be attacked this way. Someone can demand you to change the way you talk or dress, what you read or watch, how you do yo…

> who is enforcing this

Let's not exaggerate, they just changed the default for new repos, everyone is free to continue naming their branches "master" or "stable" or "trunk" or whatever they want.

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