Re: Master/Slave

[Patgmason <patgmason -at- AOL -dot- COM>]

Thanks to David Orr for responding to the challenge of 'how do you know
this offends people'.  Well, it just does, and I guess any engineer or
writer who just can't comprehend or doesn't like it that people get
offended will never get it.   I  compare this viewpoint to people holding a
nice hand of cards; they've been dealt good looks, majority status, money,
and health.  They are wont to say 'shut up and play cards' if anyone
complains about the deal.  I'm not justifying victimology, I'm just saying
sometimes you 'don't get it' because you haven't walked a mile in those shoes.

I don't speak with the same authority as Mr. Orr,  I just know I've been
in more than one conversation where the business at hand was stopped cold
and people were made very uncomfortable by someone bringing in this kind of
racial terminology.  Maybe I have too much wishful thinking that the world
of computers is and should be one place where we can leave past scars and
crap behind.

Yeah, sure, if you're writing a hardware manual where some jerk embedded
the words master/slave on a board, fine, write it up.  But it's 1997.  Past
time to jerk the jerk up short and say, umm, you gonna keep calling it this
forever?   If it's software, are you really going to make sure these terms
stay in use another ten years?  Are they really that useful?  I don't think
so.  I've used some of those manuals myself, and the awkward parallel they
try to draw by using this jargon isn't even helpful in understanding the
working of the linkages.   Face it, the responsibility for terminology
rests with us, not some nebulous 'they oughta'.  Step up to the plate and
do the right thing.  If you don't, you're no better than the redneck who
insists on teaching his 3 year old to use the N-word.  You're perpetuating
useless garbage for another generation.

Master, used alone, I think has mutated into a word with much less of the
connotations; maybe from heavy use in the recording industries as
master-copy.  I don't think slave has ever developed any useful modern
connotation.  It's just a historical word whose time has passed.  Let it
rest in peace.

patgmason -at- aol -dot- com
Pat Mason

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