Comment by trainspottinfly
Comment by trainspottinfly a day ago
Interesting solution. One little tip, I would advise picking a different heading for the section "The final solution". That phrase has a bit of unfortunate historical baggage.
Comment by trainspottinfly a day ago
Interesting solution. One little tip, I would advise picking a different heading for the section "The final solution". That phrase has a bit of unfortunate historical baggage.
I have no idea what "The final solution" refers to in terms of this website that is negative; context matters.
It was the term invented by the architects of the Holocaust, and I disagree that "eh, context matters".
Setting all moral arguments aside, it's important to know that similar phrases can work as dog-whistles to signal belonging to radical groups, and as such can easily give people the wrong impression about you as an author.
If I were to see a blog post titled "Work will set you free"[1] written by a peer, prospective employee/employer, colleague, etc., it would immediately set off alarm bells in my mind – even if the content of the post is a completely innocent discussion of the uplifting benefits of buckling down on one's workload. At best, it implies lack of awareness – at worst, it implies some extremely hateful beliefs and desires.
[1]: Written above the entrance to the Nazi concentration camps as a false promise encouraging prisoners often destined for death to work hard in forced labor.
We ought to change the whole IT terminology then. We keep killing parents and children. Context absolutely matters. Lack of context awareness is a deficit one should work on.
No, avoiding anything potentially negative is not what I'm saying. Your argument (that context always matters) leaves discourse and society highly susceptible to dog-whistles[1], by forcing all good-faith participants to interpret all communication in the most generous way possible. Bad-faith participants, on the other hand, are free to exploit that generosity.
By calling out and avoiding dog-whistles, even including accidental Nazi slogans (once pointed out), we reduce the impact of this attack on good-faith discussion and actual increase the level of openness and being up-front with our opinions.
One key difference between this and virtue signaling or thought policing is that it's the specific wording that is avoided, and not the underlying thoughts or opinions.
Ouch, thanks for the heads up