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Comment by lwhi | Hacker News Reader

[flagged]

If I see you using allowlist (and denylist?), I promise not to correct you. That way we can all just rub along peacefully.

(Edit: flagged? Jeez. I upvoted you).

For the record I didn't flag you.

However your point is null and void.

Sorry, I didn't think you did. I didn't think you should have been flagged.

Look, I don't think you're wrong, I just think going around correcting each other's language is an exhausting distraction from things that matter. Normally that kind of microaggression would have been water off a duck's back. I'm just having an off day and feeling sarcastic. Apologies.

Fair enough, I do see your point .. I just figure there are a lot of small things we can all do that cost virtually nothing that can help make the world a bit more equitable.

I see yours (from another post) too. I'll try to stick to drab, grey language in formal communication. After all, "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down", and I've got no desire to paint a target on my back.

Out of curiosity, how would we reword the verb form? Eg "Language whitewashing squicks me out"

Why would you need to? .. it relates to the act of washing white paint over something.

There's no logical reason for a negative list to be known as a 'blacklist' as far as I can tell?

Ultimately, I don't think adjusting language is more dull or drab that using the term blacklist.

But no one likes being corrected, and no one likes being told what to do. I get that .. but I honestly didn't mean to cause offence to you.

No offence, I swear! Just a slight toothache and an overactive sense of saracsm here.

But I am a bit lost now. I thought we were trying to avoid colour-terms-that-are-also-race-terms in language. Whitewashing ok, whitelist bad?

I understood the point you made, but I think you're maybe being a little deliberately obtuse (due to your tooth ache perhaps).

Have a great day.

Edit:

I explained my reasoning here:

> Why would you need to? .. it relates to the act of washing white paint over something.

> There's no logical reason for a negative list to be known as a 'blacklist' as far as I can tell?

Um. You corrected the word "whitelist", not "blacklist".

Ok, here's where I think we are. Correct me if I'm wrong.

"whitewashing" is ok, because its etymology has nothing to do with race. It's just about painting something over with whitewash. Just an analogy.

"whitelist" is bad because... its etymology has nothing to do with race? wait, what?

You can see how I'm thinking "this dude's ideas aren't totally fleshed out"? Honestly seems to me that "whitewash" is in the same etymological bucket as "whitelist", and it would be consistent to move away from both of them.

I get the point you made, but what I'm inferring is honestly a really simple concept.

Let me flesh it out for you.

Some words and phrases associate the concept of black with negativity for no good reason.

Even in 2024 racism is a huge thing.

The way we use language affects the way we think.

If there's no cost to using an alternative term and there's no logical reason to hang onto it .. why not make the change.

Look, you're free to believe that. But I promise you I did not expect you to say whitewashing was ok. That came completely out of left field for me.

Could you please stop with the false niceness? If you want to be sarcastic you can just do that. Deception squicks me out.

Rejection sensitive dysphoria. On the fight/flight/freeze/fawn chart I land squarely on fawn. Sorry, I know it's offputting. I'll try to tone it down.

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