Comment by tayo42
14 hours ago
It feels like tech overcorrected from allowing assholes to be assholes. To now having words and tone policed constantly.
14 hours ago
It feels like tech overcorrected from allowing assholes to be assholes. To now having words and tone policed constantly.
Reminds me of when Douglas Crockford got removed as a keynote speaker because he made other people uncomfortable because he used the term "gonads" and also did a muscle flex when talking about WeakMap vs StrongMap.
https://www.reddit.com/r/javascript/comments/50u77r/douglas_...
Those weren't the reasons. For example, you make it sound like he just used the word "gonads" once, but actually, he had an entire 39-minute presentation with multiple references to testicles.
They may not be the real reasons but they're the reasons that were referred to by the organizers.
Personally I was not aware of that and I feel like something like that should have come up during the entire time he was being deplatformed.
But, was he referencing actual testicles or did he just use the term "balls" in a tongue in cheek manner (to mean like, chutzpah or something?)
The assholes are still there. Complaining about language does nothing to get rid of the assholes. They're completely orthogonal activities.
If you wanted to get rid of the assholes - incredibly difficult, because they take many forms - you'd have to reinvent corporate culture in the US to make it less extractive and performative and more substance-based and cooperative.
I guess I would change what I said to specify a certain sub type then
Politically correct language has a definite purpose. If nothing else, it can be used as a gauge of compliance and obedience. If you publish a list of politically-correct terminology, company-wide, and you make suggestions on how people can amend their language to be socially-acceptable, then you will find varying levels of compliance.
The people who are loyal to the company, and believe in the mission, and obedient to the leadership, they are the ones most likely to amend their language and adopt the new terms. They will apologize for their mistakes and correct themselves. This will be looked upon with widespread favor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_stair
Others will not comply. Perhaps they are too old and set in their ways, or they just don't care about other people's feelings, or they are disobedient to the leadership already, and disloyal to the company. For whatever reason, they are the ones who will begin to distinguish themselves with language. When the rest of the company has adopted the acceptable terms, the Missing Stair people will be left behind. Then, they can simply be treated as Missing Stairs.
The bad apples don't necessarily need to be fired or exiled. Simply having a way to distinguish them in a crowd is very helpful in any organization.
One person's over-correction is another person's "finally". Norms change; it's as reasonable for that to happen as it is to complain about it.
For some cases, but the industry has already swung back on some language like master branch.