A while back, I was tasked with reviewing an academic paper that used the technical terminology of ‘master/slave’ to describe a process.
I found myself writing in my review that that terminology was no longer considered acceptable, and would just have to be replaced. And I was very aware, while typing out my friends-of-the-offended-and-oppressed piece, that I was was concocting this explanation to be read by the authors of the paper, who all had African heritage, and who attended a US educational institution in a US state considered remarkable for its previous use of slavery.
Those authors would clearly have far better and more nuanced perspectives on the mechanisms and oppression of racism and slavery than I ever will, not least from lived experiences. They had simply used technical terminology, they were clearly in agreement that that use was fine, and their paper was otherwise excellent.
So, once my review had explained to them that Black Lives Matter, and just how appalliing those terms were and how triggering and insensitive they were inadvertently being, I had fulfilled my solemn academic duty, and my head exploded from the irony of it all.
I now believe that double-blind reviewing has its advantages, while continuing to distrust the intentions of those willing to censor language. It’s so Owellian ++ungood;
Lloyd Wood
Lloyd Wood
lloyd.wood@xxxxxxxx,uk
have we cancelled Star Wars because of its slaves yet?
I believe that it is still a mistake to use terms like blacklist/whitelist and master/slave in technology documentation. I am not the only one who thinks so. There are some who believe this is not a mistake. Oh well, that's why we have "rough consensus" here. There are probably other terms and mindsets which have resulted in off-putting or even exclusionary behavior. I will not propose a list here (easy one: why our 1-1-1 policy doesn't include other continents?), but I would consider anything in that category to be a mistake. Likewise, treating slavery as purely a black/white issue through the lens of US history is also a mistake.
Hope this helps.
