People love using thinly veiled existing racist/homophobic slurs against AI. “Tinskin”, “wireback”, “cogsucker”, “clanker.”
Yes, I know that “clanker” was in Star Wars. That’s not what made it so popular, and the majority of people using it today likely never saw it there. People also use “clanka” and leave comments about using “the hard r.”
We all know what you’re talking about. You know when you’re typing it out. It’s not alright.
There are people places like Lemmy who spent their lives being called or watching their families be called the terms people are so lightly tossing about today. Do you really think that doesn’t bother any of them?
It seems like so many people were just eagerly waiting for something they felt it was socially acceptable to hurl slurs and abuse at, and happily reached for terms just like the ones they already knew.
Some kids at my niece’s school now think it’s cute to stare at black kids and talk loudly about how much they hate “clankas” making it very clear what they mean by it.
It’s one thing to dislike AI, how it’s been developed, and the intent of replacing human jobs. To insult AI and the people behind it.
It’s something completely different to jump in with constant streams of thinly veiled existing slurs that can and do hurt real people.
While I’ve never seen nor heard them used before, I’m with you on existing slurs being slightly tweaked for use in other contexts (e.g. wetback to wireback) being in poor taste.
What are the racist or homophobic roots of “clanker”? Sharing the “-er” suffix with another word doesn’t count, that’s just the nature of language.
You know what clanker and clanka is a play on. It’s not a mystery. Maybe George Lucas or whoever slipped it in to a game in 2005 thought it was cute, but we all know the wordplay behind it.
I genuinely do not. “clank” is not a minority group that I am aware of, nor does it sound remotely close to one.
If you’re trying to draw a connection to “nigger” and “nigga”, that’s quite a stretch and you’re grasping at straws.
“-er” is a suffix that gets used for a thing of person that does something. The robots go clank, that’s it.
https://www.thedailystar.net/star-youth/news/troubling-ethos-behind-anti-ai-rhetoric-4064471
The way it’s used with people making comments on “my clankas” and the “hard r” is a simple twist on the most popular slur against black people. The vast majority of people use it knowingly. It’s now used as a thin veil on racism against children. They weren’t calling a child a ni**** they were calling an AI a clanker while staring meaningfully at the child and laughing.
Using these terms in these ways does nothing to make society better or more welcoming, and it does actively harm people. It’s fucked up to see it constantly, and it’s fucked up that any time you try to speak out against it you have a swarm of people down voting and mocking because holding on the the shitty slur they’ve decided they like using the most is more important to them than it’s impact on actual other humans.
Concerning a subject matter that is unequivocally about racial undertones in US culture, your chosen source to cite is… a Bangladeshi publication?
Look into ownership of this news outlet and I think you’ll find out answer as to why they might be looking to stir up controversy around the use of derogatory terms towards technology like AI.
Spoiler: It’s the ultra-wealthy again
This is an example of the genetic fallacy. You’re ignoring the content itself to complain about it’s origin. It’s hardly the only place on the internet that says something similar, and the content is well written. It does a great job of listing the slurs and it’s point is that maybe bigotry is a bad thing.