Marshall Sutherland

Sun, 22 Jan 2023 13:38:50 -0500

dwatney@hub.farthinghalearms.com

#^USC School of Social Work removes term 'field work' because it may offend 'descendants of slavery'

USC's School of Social Work announced it would be expelling the term field work from its curriculum and practice in an attempt to be more inclusive.

#Newspeak

Newspeak

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Sun, 22 Jan 2023 13:39:51 -0500

Marshall Sutherland

dwatney@hub.farthinghalearms.com

Not wanting to be left out...

Image/photo

Sun, 22 Jan 2023 13:42:17 -0500

Marshall Sutherland

dwatney@hub.farthinghalearms.com

Waiting for the agriculture schools and sports programs to jump on board.

Sun, 22 Jan 2023 18:34:04 -0500

Alexandre Hannud Abdo

aleabdo@hubzilla.com.br

Everything is a caricature nowadays. Sometimes I fear we're all part of a low quality, unintelligent and not even funny comic strip.

Sun, 22 Jan 2023 20:02:07 -0500

Marshall Sutherland

dwatney@hub.farthinghalearms.com

Maybe this is evidence that what we think is the real world really is a simulation.

Does anyone actually feel victimized by the words that are being replaced? If there actually are any, did they feel that way before the "victimization industry" told them they should feel that way?

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 08:23:53 -0500

Marshall Sutherland

dwatney@hub.farthinghalearms.com

I'm not talking about straight-up derogatory words. I'm talking about everyday words that someone declares is symbolic of racism (or any bad -ism). There were field slaves and house slaves, so if we have to stop using "field", maybe we should stop using "house", too. Slaves picked cotton, so maybe we should stop using cotton. If we eliminate anything that is guilty by association, what is left?

"Quantum supremacy" is bad. That term didn't exist in the days of American slavery, but it shares a word with the completely unrelated term"white supremacy."

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 14:13:26 -0500

Alexandre Hannud Abdo

aleabdo@hubzilla.com.br

What I don't like is the caricature style of argumentation used in some cases, that actually harm the argument for respectful communication by making it appear irrational, and creating unnecessary noise around a good cause.

This is in contrast to stuff that requires dissociation in our heads, and will cause harm when such dissociation is not complete — because it never is — like "blacklist/whitelist" (and generally associating the names of human traits with a bad/good divide) or "slave/master" (or any evocation of hideous crimes as a metaphor for day to day business).

I actually think you can argue that the terms proposed to replace "field work" provide a better description of the jobs in question. But then, that should be the argument, not some free association rule that has no inherent nor contextual weight. "Quantum supremacy" is definitely a case where the term describes pretty badly the situation, and I'd be happy if it gets replaced there, no need to evoke any historical context. (I actually wonder whether people aren't sometimes using race as an excuse to escape arguing points.)

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 18:41:30 -0500

Marshall Sutherland

dwatney@hub.farthinghalearms.com

I looked up field and this particular source had 15 definitions. The definition that presumably causes discomfort involves definition 3. The definition relevant to these cases seems to be definitions 11 and/or 12. Unless your are working for the agriculture department, "field work" has nothing to do with farms. In a different language, these might be completely different words.

1. A broad, level, open expanse of land.
2. A meadow.
3. A cultivated expanse of land, especially one devoted to a particular crop.
4. A portion of land or a geologic formation containing a specified natural resource.
5. A wide unbroken expanse, as of ice.
6. A battleground.
7. A battle.
8. The scene or an area of military operations or maneuvers.
9. A background area, as on a flag, painting, or coin.
10. The background of a shield or one of the divisions of the background.
11. An area or setting of practical activity or application outside an office, school, factory, or laboratory.
12. An area or region where business activities are conducted.
13. An area in which an athletic event takes place, especially the area inside or near to a running track, where field events are held.
14. In baseball, the positions on defense or the ability to play defense.
15. In baseball, one of the three sections of the outfield.

I agree that there can be better names for the sake of better names. As much as I resist the change simply because of people trying to make it a race issue, "allow list" and "block list" are more descriptive names. I don't know enough about quantum supremacy to know how bad of a name it is, but let its badness speak for itself. Don't play the race card to get people to change out of fear of being labeled a racist. This is just another form of censorship which is all about power.