
Updating the Language of SPI Pin Labels to Remove Casual References to Slavery - dazhbog
https://hackaday.com/2020/06/29/updating-the-language-of-spi-pin-labels-to-remove-casual-references-to-slavery/
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kentrado
As a black person, I find this to be pretty racist. The idea that this will
appease blacks or is wanted by us is deeply insulting.

How disconnected from black experience can you be that you think this is
important or desirable?

It trivializes our very important concerns about police brutality and
systematic racism. Do you want to fight against slavery? Then lets campaign to
abolish the exception in the 13th amendment.

~~~
kube-system
I get your point, but the Open Source Hardware Association probably does not
have much influence over more important issues.

I don't think this is so much of them saying "look at us we fixed it!" as much
as it is them saying "we're taking responsibility for the domain over which we
have power".

~~~
banads
Seems more like a cheap, public religious exorcism; "thoughts and prayers"

"Would you like to save the world from the degradation and destruction it
seems destined for? Then step away from shallow mass movements and quietly go
to work on your own self-awareness. If you want to awaken all of humanity,
then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate the suffering in the
world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly, the
greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation."

-Lao Tzu

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gnusty_gnurc
These are people who will do anything to destroy you. Question whether an SPI
pin name is oppressive and risk having your career destroyed. It's not a
matter of social progress, it's about seizing power and using _any_ tool to do
it.

I think that's the breakthrough I had in realizing whether it's worth arguing
against the woke-mob. They don't care about arguments, they don't even have
one.

~~~
kube-system
What power exactly do you think is being seized through the renaming of a pin
on a chip? And by who?

~~~
gnusty_gnurc
Renaming a pin isn't seizing power - it's exercising power that's already been
taken or at least trying to be established, i.e. calling anyone who dares to
question actions, movements, etc. a racist and destroying their livelihood.
The power is through co-opting race issues, and other marginalized identities
to silence debate and free thought. Oddly enough it's usually done by the
managerial, urbane, upper-middle class white crowd.

~~~
kube-system
It only destroys the livelihood of people who decide to die on some mountain
of political thought exercise that doesn't belong in a professional workplace
to begin with.

There's no transfer of power happening. Professionalism is and always has been
inherently incompatible with unfettered "debate and free thought".

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sashokbg
If we spent our time changing specs every time someone somewhere gets offended
by something that didn't even happen to their generation, we will be spending
all our time doing only this.

~~~
aquabeagle
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_21st_century](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_21st_century)

~~~
sashokbg
So ? I know there is still slavery. There are still people who die, should I
stop using the phrase "the server is dead" because I might offend you since
you lost your grandma ?

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banads
While there has been so many pushes like this to remove the words of slavery
from our consciousness, it's important to be conscious of the fact that there
are more people living in slavery right now than ever before in history.

~~~
manjalyc
Well that’s interesting, but could easily be do to an explosion of population.
Anyone have historical per capita numbers? They seem to be hard to find.

~~~
banads
Difficult to find such data, but population explosion surely helped scale up
the absolute numbers.

Nevertheless, a lower rate of slavery per capita should still not suffice as a
satisfactory excuse for us to ignore the uncomfortable present realities of
the tens of millions of people currently living as slaves.

~~~
manjalyc
Completely agree, my issue is only with the presentation of data while not
providing context for it which I feel is disingenuous in an argument that has
no need to be disingenuous.

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bE9a3S5So8igd3
How amusing.

As a thought experiment, if using the term "slave" is prohibitively offensive
in a computer program (even if the reference is only conceptual and doesn't
have anything to do with human slavery--as anyone with half a brain knows),
what is supposed to happen in the event that a program, or some "casual" text
actually does need to refer to actual human slavery? Is it a topic that can no
longer be put to words, because the words are offensive? For example, what if
I wrote a computer program to do some sort of analysis on historical slavery
data. Is it acceptable or not to name a variable "slaves?" Do I have to rename
it "disadvantagedPersonsThanksBLM" ?

Would the reasoning be "conceptual slavery cannot be expressed in such a way,
but real slavery is permissible to express" ?

What's next, "leader?" Maybe red-black trees have to be renamed? Integration
tests? Maybe we have to switch default terminal colors to pink-purple to
satisfy the definitely-not-fascists?

~~~
polishdude20
It's easier to try and remove words to show everyone you're "doing something"
than to actually make a real change.

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dazhbog
Open hardware associasion's post

[https://www.oshwa.org/a-resolution-to-redefine-spi-signal-
na...](https://www.oshwa.org/a-resolution-to-redefine-spi-signal-names)

~~~
polishdude20
"our community has gone this long without acknowledging the need to treat all
humans with respect."

Wait is that what we weren't doing by using the terms "slave" in a different
context than anything resembling the actual slave trade? Come on now, we're
all adults here. Have some respect for our own autonomy of thought.

Also, great job calling out all those companies who haven't given in to your
ludicrous demands. That'll get the PR people there so scared they won't have a
choice but to do what you say.

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solarman5000
I was doing this in my SCH's years ago. Before I plug in any wire, I first ask
permission to touch it and what it's preferred pronoun is

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throwaway_pdp09
I would like to know if those who effectively are slaves now, would approve of
this. It looks like doing something to feel good without checking whether it
actually does any good.

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supahfly_remix
Continuing to use obsolete terms like MISO is double-plus-ungood.

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anticonformist
The only problem I have with this extremist campaign is that it's about
controlling other people. Disagreeing with their narrative publicly means
risking their attempt at cancelling your livelihood. You couldn't even
disagree within an organization safely.

They're not asking nicely. They're not actually _asking_ at all. You either
agree with the change or you are branded an Enemy of Progress.

Imagine an employee at a Big Tech Company publicly disagreeing with the change
solely for the fact that they don't wish to succumb to bullying. Many nerds
have a visceral reaction to bullies.

Paradoxically, these people are forcing others to take actions against their
will. They're making themselves masters and making slaves of others.

~~~
gnusty_gnurc
This isn't about racism anymore (and I doubt it ever was).

It's about imposing draconian penalties on anyone that doesn't yield.

They're interested in power - it's a naked power grab, and they shield it with
their claims of vulnerability and powerlessness.

