[bug#76407] Deliberation period for GCD 003 "Rename the default branch" has technically started

[Christopher Howard]

> It seems like you are not a member of any team.  This means you are not
> eligible to vote on the GCD.

Oh okay. The request for votes, address to "Guix", didn't mention the voter 
requirements. If you would that in future vote requests, you might avoid a lot 
of pointless responses.

>
> In any case, please explain your rationale for disapproval. To quote the
> GCD process:
>
>>Thus, no decision is made against significant concerns; these concerns are
>>actively resolved through counter proposals.  A deliberating member
>>disapproving a proposal bears a responsibility for finding alternatives,
>>proposing ideas or code, or explaining the rationale for the status quo.
>

I am fundamentally opposed to avoiding the branch name "master", simply because 
this word supposedly has racist overtones. I perceive this is part of a larger 
CRT and PC movement that aims to eradicate from public consciousness and 
history anything that can be remotely connected to something that people find 
offensive.

The branch name "master" has a long historical precedent. Furthermore, the 
branch name "master" is much more colorful and descriptive than "main". I like 
to think of the "master disk", which is a very important recording from which 
other copies are made.

Also, even if the intended analogy of "master" was intended to refer to 
"master" and "slave" branches, that wouldn't make the word a bad choice, and is 
not an inherently racist idea. The concepts of "master" and "slave" can be used 
in computing to refer to software or networking architectures where some 
processes are totally subservient to others. Because we design some processes 
to be slaves to others, that doesn't mean that anyone is advocating for sailing 
off to foreign shores and kidnapping humans.

Furthermore, isn't it offensive, to people whose ancestors actually were 
slaves, to go around eradicating from human memory all cultural, lexical, and 
historical references that might possibly remind us of the past existence of 
slavery?

-- 
Christopher Howard