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Comment by mkotowski | Hacker News Reader

I sometimes wonder how much there could be done for people in need of an actual form of help if all that energy to change unrelated words because someone is triggered by them went into a more useful endeavor.

And beyond that, maybe it is because I am not a native speaker, but isn’t “primary” less clear than “master” in this context? `Master` suggest control/mastery over something, but `primary` rather focuses on importance/order of things, at least in my head.

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Native speaker here: yes, “primary” does not mean the same as “master”, and in this case I would argue that the distinction is relevant.

I agree with your assessment. “primary” — to me — implies one of many equally-important passwords. “master” implies a password that protects/overrides/controls all other passwords, which is what Thunderbird’s master password actually is.

It is amusing we glorify words like Pirate and Ninja. Yet other words become vilified so we ban them.

Which in this case is doubly ironic, because pirates and buccaneers were exactly the group that had kept the slave trade alive even after it was officially banned in many places, if my limited knowledge on the Atlantic slave trade is correct.

I recall instances where they fought slavery by capturing slave trading ships, freeing the enslaved, and given them freedom and the opportunity to join them and fight the assholes that captured them in the first place. The history of Nassau is pretty interesting.

They were individualist. Some fought slavery, some helped it. No one can make a blanket statement either way.

The hilarity of it all is ego of the Western social justice movement.

By most estimates there are more slaves today than in any other point in history and it's almost entire in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa. Instead of helping those people, putting sanctions on the countries and companies turning a blind eye on slavery, or even acknowledging that slavery is not history but an ongoing condition - the West spins its wheels changing language in highly unrelated fields.

The absurdity of it all is something out of Camus.

> Hostis humani generis (Latin for "enemy of mankind") is a legal term of art that originates in admiralty law. Before the adoption of public international law,[when?] pirates and slavers were already held to be beyond legal protection and so could be dealt with by any nation, even one that had not been directly attacked.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostis_humani_generis

> It is amusing we glorify words like Pirate

Pirates were referred to as the "enemy of all mankind":

* https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/545158/enemy-of-all...

* https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52783845-enemy-of-all-ma...

You are right about "primary" being less clear. In fact I'd say it is wrong.

Primary means it is the "main" one, but it doesn't imply any controlling relationship. It's kind of like "first".

Whereas "master" (in this context) means it has control or power over other things. For example a "master switch" would override all other switches. Or a "master cylinder" on a car controls the slave cylinder.

It's a real shame that they're making things less clear to fix an imagined problem.

The point is not about actually helping anyone, it's in-group out-group signaling. Once you understand the real purpose you will understand it's effective.

As long as you are taking it at face value you will continue to be confused in this way, and you will continue to lose.

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