Political correctness gone absolute bonkers

[Ex-RoNiN 0]

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/11/26/master.term.reut/index.html

Quote[/b] ]'Master' and 'slave' computer labels unacceptable, officials say

Wednesday, November 26, 2003 Posted: 2024 GMT ( 4:24 AM HKT)

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LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Los Angeles officials have asked that manufacturers, suppliers and contractors stop using the terms "master" and "slave" on computer equipment, saying such terms are unacceptable and offensive.

The request -- which has some suppliers furious and others busy re-labeling components -- came after an unidentified worker spotted a videotape machine carrying devices labeled "master" and "slave" and filed a discrimination complaint with the county's Office of Affirmative Action Compliance.

In the computer industry, "master" and "slave" are used to refer to primary and secondary hard disk drives. The terms are also used in other industries.

"Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label," Joe Sandoval, division manager of purchasing and contract services, said in a memo sent to County vendors.

"We would request that each manufacturer, supplier and contractor review, identify and remove/change any identification or labeling of equipment components that could be interpreted as discriminatory or offensive in nature," Sandoval said in the memo, which was distributed last week and made available to Reuters.

The memo did not include any suggestions for alternative labels.

Dennis Tafoya, director of the affirmative action office, said in a separate memo that an "exhaustive search" had been undertaken to find all such labels and replace them with more "appropriate" ones. A form was sent to all departments to identify equipment carrying the labels "master" and "slave" or any other offensive terms.

Faced with an avalanche of complaints from vendors and the general public, Sandoval told Reuters in an interview that his memo was intended as "nothing more than a request" and not an ultimatum or policy change.

"I do understand that this term has been an industry standard for years and years and this is nothing more than a plea to vendors to see what they can do," he said. "It appears that some folks have taken this a little too literally."

Sandoval said that he had already rejected a suggestion that the county stop buying all equipment carrying the "master" and "slave" labels and had no intention of enforcing a ban on such terms with suppliers.

"But we are culturally sensitive and we have 90,000 employees," he said. "We have to take these things seriously."

Sandoval added that in addition to the e-mails he's received "telling me how stupid I am and how I should be fired" he has gotten a positive response from some companies willing to reexamine their labels.

In June, the Los Angeles city council unanimously passed a law requiring that any companies doing business with the city disclose profits they may have made from slavery in the 19th Century. In 2000, the council supported federal legislation seeking reparations for descendants of slaves.

"We have to take these things seriously"

I'm left speechless....

[SKULLS_Viper 0]

Ok...

Oh, and here is another link. http://www.comcast.net/News....a4.html

Generally the same thing, but alittle diffrent.

Quote[/b] ]LOS ANGELES - A county official has asked computer and video equipment vendors to consider eliminating the terms "master" and "slave" from equipment because they may be considered offensive.

"Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label," according to an e-mail sent to vendors on Nov. 18. The memo asks manufacturers, suppliers and contractors to change or remove any labels on components "that could be interpreted as discriminatory or offensive in nature."

The county's 39 departments also were told to identify equipment with offensive labels.

"We got a note back from IBM saying thank you for bringing this to our attention and we'll take a look at this," said Joe Sandoval, who wrote the memo. Sandoval is division manager of purchasing and contract services for the county's Internal Services Department.

The term "master" and "slave" _ when applied to electronic equipment _ describes one device controlling another.

In May, a black employee of the Probation Department filed a discrimination complaint with the county Office of Affirmative Action Compliance after noticing the words on a videotape machine.

"This individual felt that it was offensive and inappropriate ... given the experiences that this country has gone through in respect to slavery," office director Dennis A. Tafoya said.

The issue was solved by putting tape over the labels and replacing "master" and "slave" with "primary" and "secondary," Tafoya said.

Although Tafoya said his office did not find discrimination in the case, he added, "I think we constantly need to be conscious of these issues."

Sandoval said the county is making a suggestion, not trying to dictate political correctness.

"Knowing that it's an industry standard, there's no way that I'm going to stop buying that equipment," he said.

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.(er...sorry  )

[Tex -USMC- 0]

I wasn't aware that any one race or ethnicity had a monopoly on either the 'master' or 'slave' role.

[edc 0]

Quote[/b] ]"We have to take these things seriously"

How 'bout we have to get a life?

[mr burns 131]

omg, which drugs do they use ??

instead of leading the country politicians just see their job as some media-marketing thing, imo ... what counts for them is how their party is regarded in public. ok i know PR is important, but the majority off a party´s efforts should go into finding solutions for important issues!

political correctness is a fine thing...nothing´s more worse than making a normal thing sounding bad. but now they´re really overdoing it. who the hell cares about the standard term for HD devices ??

ps: hope my english´s not that weird as i see it

"I do understand that this term has been an industry standard for years and years and this is nothing more than a plea to vendors to see what they can do," he said. "It appears that some folks have taken this a little too literally."

let´s see what develops from this

...(er...sorry )

lol

[Grizzlie 0]

Don't laugh. Next will be "male" and "female" sockets...

[Guest]

Omfg.....these people's asses are so tight if you shoved a lump of coal up there they would shit a diamond!

[Longinius 1]

LOL

Why does this not suprise me? Haha... Thats one thing some Americans are good at coming up with, stupid lawsuits ; )

[Ex-RoNiN 0]

LOL

Why does this not suprise me? Haha... Thats one thing some Americans are good at coming up with, stupid lawsuits ; )

Did all Americans come up with this? No, it was ONE (probably very lonely and socially outcast) American that did this.

The UK has a similarly hideous, if not worse, track record when it comes to PC decisions.

Need I say "Ba baa baa" or "blackboard"?

[Baron Hurlothrumbo IIX 0]

LOL

Why does this not suprise me? Haha... Thats one thing some Americans are good at coming up with, stupid lawsuits ; )

Did all Americans come up with this? No, it was ONE (probably very lonely and socially outcast) American that did this.

The UK has a similarly hideous, if not worse, track record when it comes to PC decisions.

Need I say "Ba baa baa" or "blackboard"?

such as..?

[Crazysheep 1]

LOL

Why does this not suprise me? Haha... Thats one thing some Americans are good at coming up with, stupid lawsuits ; )

Did all Americans come up with this? No, it was ONE (probably very lonely and socially outcast) American that did this.

The UK has a similarly hideous, if not worse, track record when it comes to PC decisions.

Need I say "Ba baa baa" or "blackboard"?

such as..?

Blackboard must now be chalkboard, and it has to be "baa baa shee-eep" because it might offend black people. Stupid, huh?

[Ex-RoNiN 0]

LOL

Why does this not suprise me? Haha... Thats one thing some Americans are good at coming up with, stupid lawsuits ; )

Did all Americans come up with this? No, it was ONE (probably very lonely and socially outcast) American that did this.

The UK has a similarly hideous, if not worse, track record when it comes to PC decisions.

Need I say "Ba baa baa" or "blackboard"?

such as..?

Blackboard must now be chalkboard, and it has to be "baa baa shee-eep" because it might offend black people. Stupid, huh?

Which is my point. Because of a handful of stupid, lonely, deprived and lifeless people, we should not have the same bad picture of the whole country and its people

I think we should be mature enough to be able to realise that what one American does, may not necessarily be what everyone does

I find generalisations such as this one patronising, almost bordering on racism.

This was more aimed at Longinius, and yes, I am perfectly aware of the situational irony

[Tamme 0]

Print 'master' with big golden, diamond embellished letters. And attach 'slave' to the computer with chains. That'll shut him up.

[Badgerboy 0]

Quote[/b] ]The issue was solved by putting tape over the labels and replacing "master" and "slave" with "primary" and "secondary," Tafoya said.

Anyone spot the problem there?

[Postduifje 0]

Wouldn't that make primary primary, primary secondary, secondary primary and secondary secondary. Oef, I'm feeling dizzy   (as in: primary master, primary slave, secondary master and secondary slave)

-Post

[Badgerboy 0]

And when was the last time you had a 'word shower' ?

Quote[/b] ]The term "brainstorming" has become the latest target of political correctness, according to a charity.

Trainee teachers are being told to avoid the word for fear of offending pupils with epilepsy. Instead they are being advised to use "word storm" or "thought shower".

However, charities working with epilepsy say "brainstorming" is not offensive. "We had several inquiries from teachers about it so we did a survey of our residential home," said Gemma Baxter from the National Society for Epilepsy.

"We also contacted people with epilepsy in the community and the overwhelming response was that 'brainstorming' implies no offence to people with epilepsy, and that any implication that the word is offensive to people with the condition is taking political correctness too far."

People found it more offensive that the question was being asked of them, she said.

The Teacher Training Agency said it was not responsible for the suggestion that students avoid the word.

"We are responsible for overseeing the general quality of the courses provided by universities and colleges and we don't get involved in the minutiae of what they teach."

And yet the madness continues. Can anyone predict the next 'step in human compassion and decency' they will come up with next.

Link

[Badgerboy 0]

Wouldn't that make primary primary, primary secundary, secundary primary and secundary secundary. Oef, I'm feeling dizzy  

Spot on. This was obviously decided by committee. And a IT illiterate one at that.

[Longinius 1]

Quote[/b] ]I find generalisations such as this one patronising, almost bordering on racism.

This was more aimed at Longinius, and yes, I am perfectly aware of the situational irony

Then you should also be aware that I wrote "some". Not "all", or just "Americans". But some.

And compared to the rest of the world America has an insane amount of stupid lawsuits. Mainly because....

1. The judicial system seems to encourage it.

2. More often than not, you can get quite rich of it.

And, to make it simple: No, I dont think all Americans are stupid enough to do this. But _some_ of them are, and the rest don't seem to care enough to try and put a stop to it.

[bn880 5]

Well why don't we just remove the words 'master' and 'slave' from the dictionary? We seem to be in denial anyway...

[Ex-RoNiN 0]

Quote[/b] ]I find generalisations such as this one patronising, almost bordering on racism.

This was more aimed at Longinius, and yes, I am perfectly aware of the situational irony

Then you should also be aware that I wrote "some". Not "all", or just "Americans". But some.

Oh yeah, you're right, just double checked. Must have missed it.

Sorry about that

[GoOB 0]

Whats next, banning the terms sir and ma'm? Silly as hell what the hell is wrong with people these days?

I remember a debate not long ago about a pastry known in Sweden as the "Chokladboll" or "Negerboll" the second term for it was obviously offensive, although I agree that it can be offensive I can't say that I know any of my friends who do find if offensive. The "political correctness" is as stated going way out of hand. Here in Sweden we don't even sing our national anthem when we quit school for summer (atleast not at my school). Nor can we make the Swedish key-fiddle our national instrument since the goverment has decided that we have enough national symbols. Silly indeed!

[Postduifje 0]

GoOB, now you mention it, I think we have the same chocolate, called negerzoen ("negro's kiss"). Though I don't remember anyone making a fuss about it here. It's just plain silly, everyone knows it isn't suppose to be intimidating...

[GoOB 0]

We have "Negerkyssar" aswell, but they are not the same as the chocolate meatballs so to speak (that is what they are basically) I think they are just melted sugar (wich is then frozen again) with chocolate on them. But it is silly that people can't take the names for what they are, not meant to be offensive. It would be like making Barry White changing his name to something else

EDIT: R.I.P Barry.

[EiZei 0]

Something like this? Those used to be called "Nigger kisses" but the name was later changed to "Brunberg kisses".

[NurEinMensch 0]

In Germany it was "Negerkuss" but that was changed into "Schokokuss".

I have yet to find someone who was offended tho. Silly.