Satire. The way to fight this is with satire. Perhaps we should post this list to Github, make whatever ridiculous additions we can think of, and take pull requests from all quarters. Then we just need to find a way to broadcast it.
Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
971–980 of 1001 posts
Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
#972It's pretty remarkable that this conflates: - Well-known slurs like "Jewed" - Outdated, now-offensive terms like "hermaphrodite" - Touchy metaphorical language like "slave replica" - Gendered terms that if you're being assiduous you probably want to avoid, like "manpower" - Words that have long since lost any stigmatizing meaning by virtue of the original use being so ancient ("lame", "dumb", "stupid") - Words that,…
Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
#973It's pretty remarkable that this conflates: - Well-known slurs like "Jewed" - Outdated, now-offensive terms like "hermaphrodite" - Touchy metaphorical language like "slave replica" - Gendered terms that if you're being assiduous you probably want to avoid, like "manpower" - Words that have long since lost any stigmatizing meaning by virtue of the original use being so ancient ("lame", "dumb", "stupid") - Words that,…
> Outdated, now-offensive terms like "hermaphrodite" Is there anything outdated if you talk about e.g. a hermaphroditic tree? I thought this was still the standard term in biology for species which practice sexual reproduction and normally or frequently have individuals with both kinds of reproductive organs, either simultaneously or alternately.
Although if you had say, a cat with ambiguous genitalia it wouldn't be offense to reference them as intersex.
Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
#974It's pretty remarkable that this conflates: - Well-known slurs like "Jewed" - Outdated, now-offensive terms like "hermaphrodite" - Touchy metaphorical language like "slave replica" - Gendered terms that if you're being assiduous you probably want to avoid, like "manpower" - Words that have long since lost any stigmatizing meaning by virtue of the original use being so ancient ("lame", "dumb", "stupid") - Words that,…
Misappropriating and subsequently weaponizing commonly used words is a trash move, imo, and it plainly exposes the lack of moral integrity of the persecutors. I find it very difficult to believe that such behavior is made in good faith.
Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
#975Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
#976This got dark quick: "basket case" Originally referred to one who has lost all four limbs and therefore needed to be carried around in a basket. I've only heard of basket case from the context of barely ridable motorcycle in a constant state of repair with its random parts in a basket. I wish it was my job to make this sort of document. I'd make up all sorts of crazy backstories for slang no one has ever heard of.
I feel like someone that had no limbs would still be too heavy to carry around in a basket. What is the weight of a delimbed torso?
Apparently according to one source the basket case origin was a result of rumor telephone and loss of context. https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/08/basket-case.html
Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
#977They apparently spider and scan their own websites for "harmful" language: I just find this wild. How and when did language itself become so dangerous to this degree? Along with most adults in my social circle, I care and think about my health, my family, my friends, my work, my dog, my environment, my community, etc. I could not give a flying fuck about language policing. Language isn't going to protect me on my bik…
Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
#978It's pretty remarkable that this conflates: - Well-known slurs like "Jewed" - Outdated, now-offensive terms like "hermaphrodite" - Touchy metaphorical language like "slave replica" - Gendered terms that if you're being assiduous you probably want to avoid, like "manpower" - Words that have long since lost any stigmatizing meaning by virtue of the original use being so ancient ("lame", "dumb", "stupid") - Words that,…
Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
#979It's pretty remarkable that this conflates: - Well-known slurs like "Jewed" - Outdated, now-offensive terms like "hermaphrodite" - Touchy metaphorical language like "slave replica" - Gendered terms that if you're being assiduous you probably want to avoid, like "manpower" - Words that have long since lost any stigmatizing meaning by virtue of the original use being so ancient ("lame", "dumb", "stupid") - Words that,…
Why is that touchy? It doesn't make any value judgements about slavery. It's just referencing the concept. If referencing the concept is bad, then I guess schools shouldn't teach it anymore? Let's all pretend there never was any slavery!
I wonder when someone will find a problem with 'kill' command.
Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
#980It's pretty remarkable that this conflates: - Well-known slurs like "Jewed" - Outdated, now-offensive terms like "hermaphrodite" - Touchy metaphorical language like "slave replica" - Gendered terms that if you're being assiduous you probably want to avoid, like "manpower" - Words that have long since lost any stigmatizing meaning by virtue of the original use being so ancient ("lame", "dumb", "stupid") - Words that,…
It's my opinion that the best policy is no policy. If you make rules people will break them. And when the rules are so strict it means nobody bothers. If the rules aren't strict some will push it as far as they can. Everything has context. But in general I think people are far too easily offended today, and considering offense a valid issue to fight on has turned out to be a real rabbit hole. Unfortunately, there's n…
If everyone pushed back harder, perhaps things would be different.
From what I remember, HN reacted mostly positively to someone's speculation that 'master' branch or 'blacklist' might offend black people (they weren't black themselves). Tons of comments arguing that changing it is not an issue, so we should do it.