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Comment by oddevan | Hacker News Reader

The problem I’m starting to see is that the continued use of phrases like this (master/slave, blacklist/whitelist) can be a constant reminder to some that they “don’t belong here.” Obviously, in this context, they aren’t meant to be racist; but they are a reminder that racism exists. The end result is that it makes more people feel unwanted and ultimately leave tech.

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Yikes. "Blacklist" has nothing to do with skin colour. In a different context, "being in the black" is a positive situation and contrasted with "being in the red".

We start down that path and we'll end up banning "Paint it black" as a racist song.

A blacklist may not have anything to do with skin color, but being on a blacklist usually has negative connotations, not positive.

The related term is "whitelist," not "redlist." So I can understand why people might believe the pair has racial overtones.

I think this is a similar misunderstanding as attributing the spelling "history" (which is a typical transliteration of the word "ιστορία" from Greek, that doesn't have a "his" syllable) to the fact that history is dominated by male figures. Some have suggested the term should be changed to "herstory" to recognise the contribution of women to history.

To my mind, thinking that "blacklisting" has racist connotations because we all African people "black" also, is a similar kind of confusion.

Edit: to clarify what I'm trying to say. The fact that "black" is in "blacklist" is a coincidence and nothing to do with racism. Same as the fact that "his" is in "history".

>Some have suggested the term should be changed to "herstory" to recognise the contribution of women to history.

Which is funny in itself. "history" is sexist because it's male, so let's do some affirmative action and make it sexist in the other direction!

Well, the function of a blacklist tend to have negative connotations, so that those connotations match how they are actually used seems like a feature, not like something to avoid.

Right, and the GP addressed this by giving a counter-example.

Also, there is also debate about the 'redskins'.

>the continued use of phrases like this (master/slave, blacklist/whitelist) can be a constant reminder to some that they “don’t belong here.”

I'm sorry, but what? It's not like you're calling the CEOs/managers "masters" and the rank and file devs "slaves". It's literally a term assigned to an inanimate object.

>they are a reminder that racism exists.

So you want everyone to forget racism exists? (Because it does BTW).

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