I dont get this “pretend it didn’t happen” thing people like to push these kinds of changes as, because they are actively admitting that bad things did happen and they would like to avoid associating themselves and normalizing the idea of something as horrible as slavery and instead use objectively clearer and language and terms less rooted in historical trauma.
I just imagined (incorrectly I should add, or over-generalized at best) that a person like this coming with a proposal to rename something that suggests past oppression is doing it to appease their conscience without even trying to solve the issue of racism. Just a PR stunt for their (and their investors’) peace of mind.
The ‘pretend it didn’t happen’ person just renames eg. ‘master’ -> ‘main’, washes their hands of the whole thing and in their conscience they are saints, made a difference, fought the good fight, etc. but when racism rears it’s ugly head again they just will look for the next thing to rename. It’s like kids putting a black profile pic on their IG essentially. What good does that do? You’ve eradicated racism, have you? Well good on you mate, what global issue should we tackle next? Let’s rename fossil fuels to ‘poison’ and call it a day, eh?
I have since learned in this thread that the renaming in fact should be a part of it (but I would argue not the main part) which is what I sort of agree with. For the real anti-racism we cannot realistically expect github, or Microsoft, or any corporation to do anything about it since they care only about profit margins and to look good.
I dont get this “pretend it didn’t happen” thing people like to push these kinds of changes as, because they are actively admitting that bad things did happen and they would like to avoid associating themselves and normalizing the idea of something as horrible as slavery and instead use objectively clearer and language and terms less rooted in historical trauma.
I just imagined (incorrectly I should add, or over-generalized at best) that a person like this coming with a proposal to rename something that suggests past oppression is doing it to appease their conscience without even trying to solve the issue of racism. Just a PR stunt for their (and their investors’) peace of mind.
The ‘pretend it didn’t happen’ person just renames eg. ‘master’ -> ‘main’, washes their hands of the whole thing and in their conscience they are saints, made a difference, fought the good fight, etc. but when racism rears it’s ugly head again they just will look for the next thing to rename. It’s like kids putting a black profile pic on their IG essentially. What good does that do? You’ve eradicated racism, have you? Well good on you mate, what global issue should we tackle next? Let’s rename fossil fuels to ‘poison’ and call it a day, eh?
I have since learned in this thread that the renaming in fact should be a part of it (but I would argue not the main part) which is what I sort of agree with. For the real anti-racism we cannot realistically expect github, or Microsoft, or any corporation to do anything about it since they care only about profit margins and to look good.