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Comment by TeaDrunk | Hacker News Reader

I think the debate on language is part of a greater discussion in the field as to the fact that software development and other tech fields are disproportionate in its representation, whether or not it’s a problem, and how to resolve it. These sorts of addresses approaches in language are an easy and immediate signal, like switching from language like policeman, postman, etc.

Arguably it is much harder and will face much more resistance if GitHub attempted to solicit internship programs, scholarship grants, and supported programs necessary to churn the wheels on rolling back the factors preventing our field from being friendly to a broader demographic set of people.

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I agree with your point. Engineers love to use signaling as a tool to prove points, yet are conveniently saying signaling doesn’t matter here. It’s signaling that prejudice and racism matter.

Yes, I think that it is an easy signal that Microsoft (and GitHub) believes racism and prejudice is worth an adjustment in language. It’s much harder to actually perform systemic changes and I’m sure people would do plenty of gnashing of teeth about any significant movement, such as if Microsoft had grants only available to BIPOC (black/indigenous people of color, who have unique hardships in discriminatory systems in America compared with Indian or East Asian people who have and continue to face discrimination but they do not largely have existing government sanctioned forces to disenfranchise them from their birth to their death.)

I think I follow what you’re saying. And I don’t think it has to be one or the other.Corporations and People need to both signal and action towards more equality. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.

It is much harder but through signaling we raise the importance of the issue and increase the likelihood for action.

I think both is indeed important. But I also think (and wish to focus on) that if Microsoft/GitHub leadership wish to indicate that they care about systemic racism and racial bias/inequality in their workplaces, they cannot stop at language adjustments on their platform. They must put up capital.

(Also, I think that criticism that only language changes are relatively useless is not without some substance. If we had more BIPOC in our workplaces and leadership, and it is something black people in tech advocate for, then it is a problem that would solve itself because tech companies would have to choose between losing their CTO/CIO/Chief Architect/Director of Technology Platform Worth $$$$$ and adjusting their language to be welcoming to their employees.)

I've always held the same view, I call it "companies taking the easy way out". Another recent example is Disney making the lion cast in The Lion King 2019 live action movie black. What a completely disingenuous statement. Disney could actually fund and make their first black male lead in a Disney movie, which would actually contribute significantly in addressing systematic racism in at least the movie/animation industry. Instead Disney chose to massage their egos so that whenever they get called out for the lack of black characters in leading Disney roles they can say but we had an all black cast for the lions in The Lion King.

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