Naming things is hard.
Some names bring people together, others drive them apart.
I am too familiar with trying to find names that are descriptive, that reveal purpose, that don’t transmit the wrong intention. I do it every day when I code. But what happens if I don’t do a good job at naming a programming artifact? Not much, maybe a colleague has a harder time debugging a program I wrote but the overall program’s functionality won’t be affected by the names I choose.
In programming, names are just for humans, to make programs easier to read. Computers don’t get confused or mislead by the name of a variable or function. They look “inside”, at the data, at the behavior; those are what it is relevant to them. They don’t even understand human languages, programs need to eventually be translated to machine language before they can be executed. They can’t be misled by foolish names.
I wish it was like that for humans. I wish we will look more carefully behind the catchy slogan or trendy movement name before pledging our support. I wish if we could look behind the thick curtains protecting the masterminds before swearing allegiance to their cause.
I dislike lies, hidden agendas and obvious manipulation.
I abhor having to live by the “lesser of two evils” axiom. The lesser evil is still evil.
Since when good vs bad became “less bad” vs “bad”.
Yet we cheer for it.