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The notion that we can only recognize perfect people in history seems misguided since there are precious few perfect people. Audubon owned slaves. Muir was rac

The notion that we can only recognize perfect people in history seems misguided since there are precious few perfect people. Audubon owned slaves. Muir was racist. Webb was discriminatory. These are all teachable moments: the evils in our past were not solely the fault of the worst people in society; even the best people were responsible.

echopurity 5y ago
No, the "best people" weren't responsible for slavery. Any rich guy can write a book or do math especially if they live off slave labor. There were plenty of people who opposed slavery. Those were the best people, even if they're not remembered in a culture that worships slavemasters.
- cjensen 5y ago
  You're right that the abolitionists were better people who lived at the same time. My point is really that people can be good in many honorable ways and yet also be complicit in the common evil of their time. Likely many abolitionists were against LGBT; it's good to remember both their greatness and their failings.
- tosstoyevsky 5y ago
  You can bet that even the “best people” held some unpopular view. I’m sure they used words that would be considered terrible by today’s standards. It’s the same as going all the way back to the beginning of someone’s Twitter account to find a rap lyric quote to get them fired. Even the most cautious careful views today may look terrible 100 years from now.
acer4666 5y ago
There's a passage in Alan Turing's autobiography that suggests he performed a non-consensual sexual act on a male friend.* I would certainly not use this as cause for renaming the many things we have named after Turing. *Alan Turing: The Enigma, page 132: "They were ordinary people, who made Alan feel more at home than did the grand Princeton figures. In their old-fashioned country way, they put Alan and Maurice in the same double bed. The compartments of life were fractured. Maurice was amazed - he had not had the slightest suspicion. Alan apologised and withdrew at once. Then he blazed out"
only_as_i_fall 5y ago
Sure, but I also think people like to paint with a broad brush when talking about how "nobody's perfect" Just because very few people are totally devoid of moral failures doesn't mean some people aren't better than others. And it shouldn't mean that we can't judge those before us for their failures as well as their successes.

echopurity 5y ago

No, the "best people" weren't responsible for slavery. Any rich guy can write a book or do math especially if they live off slave labor. There were plenty of people who opposed slavery. Those were the best people, even if they're not remembered in a culture that worships slavemasters.

cjensen 5y ago
You're right that the abolitionists were better people who lived at the same time. My point is really that people can be good in many honorable ways and yet also be complicit in the common evil of their time. Likely many abolitionists were against LGBT; it's good to remember both their greatness and their failings.
tosstoyevsky 5y ago
You can bet that even the “best people” held some unpopular view. I’m sure they used words that would be considered terrible by today’s standards. It’s the same as going all the way back to the beginning of someone’s Twitter account to find a rap lyric quote to get them fired. Even the most cautious careful views today may look terrible 100 years from now.

acer4666 5y ago

There's a passage in Alan Turing's autobiography that suggests he performed a non-consensual sexual act on a male friend.* I would certainly not use this as cause for renaming the many things we have named after Turing. *Alan Turing: The Enigma, page 132: "They were ordinary people, who made Alan feel more at home than did the grand Princeton figures. In their old-fashioned country way, they put Alan and Maurice in the same double bed. The compartments of life were fractured. Maurice was amazed - he had not had the slightest suspicion. Alan apologised and withdrew at once. Then he blazed out"

only_as_i_fall 5y ago

Sure, but I also think people like to paint with a broad brush when talking about how "nobody's perfect" Just because very few people are totally devoid of moral failures doesn't mean some people aren't better than others. And it shouldn't mean that we can't judge those before us for their failures as well as their successes.