[OT] master/slave debate in Python

[Paul Moore]

On Wed, 26 Sep 2018 at 16:30, Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly at gmail.com> wrote:

> Also: a human slave is not "a person being treated like a computer"
> and I find it highly disrespectful that you would move to trivialize
> slavery like that.

I have no idea what it must feel like to be a slave (other than the
trite and obvious idea that "it must be awful"). Unfortunately,
debates like this do nothing to help me understand or empathise with
the people suffering in that way, or people dealing with the aftermath
of historical cases.

I'm more than happy to ensure that we are not causing pain or being
disrespectful of the suffering of others, but rather than simply
making the whole issue feel like a censorship debate, I'd rather we
were helping people to understand and empathise, so that they would
*of their own accord* act in an appropriate way. Self-censorship based
on understanding and empathy is far more reasonable than any sort of
externally-imposed rules.

But discussing what it means to be a slave, or the implications of
slavery on our culture(s) is way off-topic for this list, so I'd
prefer not to debate it further here. I'm sure anyone interested in
understanding more can easily find more appropriate forums to
participate in.

Paul