In my profession, in the past and also currently still often use the terms, “master” and “slave” to refer to servers that have master or replica copies of LDAP data. I’ve heard more people complain about how most organizations that produce LDAP software change terminology to “provider” / “consumer” or similar to be “politically correct”, than I have heard complain about the servers being called “master” / “slave”. But I haven’t worked with too many people in my business who have had recent ancestors that were slaves. I keep a very open mind.
I like to use the new terms but if people are so bothered to be politically correct, I’ll use the old ones. I think that there’s no worse thing than slavery. To be a human, owned by another human: that’s a punishment worse than death.
But we can all use the words that make us happy and still be ignorant. Ye, strawberry eaters. YOU have slaves working for you now, in this year, 2025. I’m not sure what else to call the very low-skilled fruit pickers who populate a large swath of California, and are employed primarily by picking strawberries. They have no health care, no medical insurance, no retirement plan. They cannot vote. The are often paid below minimum wage. They cannot sue their employer for mistreatment. I’m not sure what you can call that besides “slavery”. I don’t eat a lot of strawberries but I don’t think it makes much of a difference. I’m guessing drones could do that work, and with a good system, those low-skilled people, taught skills like solar panel manufacturing or installation.
I know some are going to quickly criticize the current U.S. government for overreach, and call illegal immigrants “undocumented”. Words; all just words.
There could be a legal system that combines toughness with compassion. There is no conflict. There should be a legal system that combines toughness with compassion. You should not be able to immigrate OR HIRE PEOPLE illegally. There should be laws to allow the fruit-pickers and hotel maids we need, and also laws to protect them once they are here.
Exploitative labor is slavery, and so it should be ended.
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