Recent days have seen (another) kerfuffle involving historical research. The basic gist is that a researcher at Cambridge was looking into slavery in the Caribbean. Malik Al Nasir, the scholar, gave a TEDx talk in which he named a former MP, Antoinette Sandbach, as being descended from a slaveowner.
"At 8 generations back, we each have 512 ancestors. "
Probably a bit fewer given likelihood of intermarriage, but its exactly the calculation that made me really stop caring at all about geneology!
I truly think the proper response to a scurrilous attack like this is along the lines of :
"I have XXX grandparents in the XXX generation you are referring to. The notion that some scintilla of their purported crimes has descended to me and that I am required to make amends is facially absurd."
What makes someone a shittier person: having a slave holding ancestor, or publishing a specific person’s genealogy to that effect, knowing what impact it will have?
Sandbach & Al Nasir deserve each other, for their rank stupidity in this episode. But this does reinforce my intuition that we're seeing the creation of a caste system, from which there is no escape. This story is also kind of funny, though. It's making me dream up future insanely unreasonable soshal jusstiss gimmicks, as 'scholars' in the field seek publicity in a crowded marketplace.
There was no need for Al Nasir to single out one descendent of a slaveowner, even with her political office. And while Sandbach went too far by threatening to sue, no one should be condemned for the sins of their ancestors.
"At 8 generations back, we each have 512 ancestors. "
Probably a bit fewer given likelihood of intermarriage, but its exactly the calculation that made me really stop caring at all about geneology!
I truly think the proper response to a scurrilous attack like this is along the lines of :
"I have XXX grandparents in the XXX generation you are referring to. The notion that some scintilla of their purported crimes has descended to me and that I am required to make amends is facially absurd."
What makes someone a shittier person: having a slave holding ancestor, or publishing a specific person’s genealogy to that effect, knowing what impact it will have?
Sandbach & Al Nasir deserve each other, for their rank stupidity in this episode. But this does reinforce my intuition that we're seeing the creation of a caste system, from which there is no escape. This story is also kind of funny, though. It's making me dream up future insanely unreasonable soshal jusstiss gimmicks, as 'scholars' in the field seek publicity in a crowded marketplace.
There was no need for Al Nasir to single out one descendent of a slaveowner, even with her political office. And while Sandbach went too far by threatening to sue, no one should be condemned for the sins of their ancestors.
Well, you care enough about it to boost the Streisand Effect, anyway ;-)