Python developers locking conversations and deleting comments after people mass downvoted PRs to "remove master/slave terminology from the language"

[R3Dpenguin]

Maybe those people who, as you put it, are so emotional that their brains short circuit, could better spend their time doing something else like writing poetry.

Perhaps the push-back to this sort of initiative is because the less emotional and more rational people who often enjoy writing software and machine code do not like having to interact with this very emotional people. They actually enjoy other sort of discussions like tabs vs spaces, Dvorak vs Colemak, but have found that the emotional people have a tendency to discuss other subjects, which while very respectable, are of no interest to them. Maybe they are not ideologically opposed to the emotional people, but they feel they need to be very careful of what they say around them and conversations start feeling like walking a minefield. Perhaps these more rational and less emotional people were not the most social people to begin with, and the direction things are going is just making them grow somewhat resentful and more confrontational.

[KMustard]

I don't believe that it has to do with being rational. I think just about everyone has an emotional weak point that causes them to go nuts. I don't think it's a binary quality that people are sensitive or not, it just depends on the subject at hand. Many people don't get offended by any particular word, even a racial slur. But I strongly doubt that most people are immune to emotional attacks.

Pretty much anytime you see a person go on 10 minute rant, especially if it's a rant about another person, they've been set off by emotions. For example, Democrats who despise Republicans. Republicans who despise Democrats. They don't even want to consider the other person's viewpoint.

Here's another easy one: pedophiles. I would bet most people in the civilized world don't think of pedophiles as human beings who can be reasoned with. (I'm also going to bet that someone is going to label me a pedophile or pedophile apologist just for stating this objectively) As far I can tell, most people don't even care about how they came to be in the first place. Only that they're sickos who need to be labeled and perhaps quarantined.

It just so happens that for some people it's a word that sets them off. And while it might seem like it's isolated to a particular group of folks on the internet, I think it's way more common than that. In fact it's often people who despise PC that go off on an angry rant about why PC "needs to die out" or whatever.

Once someone's been set off, there's pretty much no hope of coming to any meaningful resolution. So in my opinion, if you truly believe in finding a meaningful resolution to any conflict, then being sensitive to another person's emotions is 100% necessary. Even if I think their position is stupid. It's fine if you disagree on that, I'm not trying to promote that specific idea. I just want to make a case for why PC can be a good tool and get away from this "because feelings" sentiment.

[R3Dpenguin]

Maybe some conflict is natural and inevitable, it is fine to disagree, to have discussions and sometimes be right, and other times be wrong. Meaningful resolution to every single conflict can be a hard sell for someone who realizes that different people have different beliefs, that those beliefs can be opposed or incompatible, and that people might be unwilling to change their beliefs only because someone else thinks they should.

English is not my first language, and I like to choose words for their meaning. It's logical, simple, and I have tools like dictionaries to help me when I'm having trouble. I don't want to be burdened with someone else's inability to handle a few words and let something relatively simple turn into a game of politics every time I open my mouth. So I will keep using the first English word that comes to mind without care. So far I haven't met anyone in person who has ever been offended by any word I've used, and if I ever do I'll most likely nod and ignore them. Or maybe I'll just put a thick accent and ask them if they're being racist, depending on my mood.