Bethany Brookshire

This is an important and thoughtful piece in UnDark on confronting the ghosts of race science past, especially in our heroes. https://race.undark.org/articles/ghosts-of-science-past-still-haunt-us-we-can-put-them-to-rest

One of the things I always end up thinking about is how often people want to go to the mat for their heroes. It...mystifies me.

Because like, most of the time you've never met them! They will not go to the mat for you! Why are you so invested in someone who doesn't know or care in return?

Confronting the Ghosts of Science Past

Heated debates about famed scientists who held disturbing views on race often fade away without resolution. An evolutionary biologist says we can do better.

Dec 14, 2022 at 3:39pmWeb
Show threadBethany BrookshireDec 14, 2022

It because people have taken their feelings about the celebrity as part of their identity.

If you love EO Wilson it means you love science, and more, it means you find beauty in evolution and randomness and the natural world.

...but you don't NEED to love EO Wilson to love these other things!

And that person? Was never perfect. No one ever is. Are you? Didn't think so.

Show threadBethany BrookshireDec 14, 2022

You can love someone's work, you can identify with their ideas...and you can do it WITHOUT making that person a hero.

Try it sometime.

Show threadQuezovercoatl quietlyDec 14, 2022

@beebrookshire I think there's a tendency for some people to leap to the defense of a "hero" not just because of what they represent, but also because they fear being judged themselves. Like they're thinking "I love this person because I love science; if people say that this person is bad, then they're saying that I'm bad too (and maybe they're also saying that science is bad)".

I appreciate the article's focus on the actual harm a person causes rather than emotional appeal.