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>It was referred to as a derogatory name in a Wisconsin State Journal story in the 1920s >In a statement released Thursday, the university explained, “[r]emovi

>It was referred to as a derogatory name in a Wisconsin State Journal story in the 1920s >In a statement released Thursday, the university explained, “[r]emoving the rock as a monument in a prominent location prevents further harm to our community >Chamberlin Rock, which is believed to be over two billion years old, was described by the university as a large pre-Cambrian-era glacial erratic. It was named for Thomas Chamberlin, a geologist who served as university president from 1887 to 1892 So, a 2 billion year old glacial erratic was removed because some time 100 years ago someone referred to it using a racial slur...and its existence was causing harm. I can see why people get upset about things like Confederate statues and such...but this, I mean really...come on...it's not like it was officially named after a racial slur, the article doesn't seem to imply there was problems with people today referring to the rock by the racial slur. This just seems so ridiculous at this point. They are claiming a giant rock causes harm because someone 100 years ago used a terrible word to describe it in a journal article. If you choose to be offended and upset because someone used a word 100 years ago to describe a rock, that's probably on you at that point.

brenschluss 5y ago
It’s called a name, and names have real meaning, because they’re created with social agreements. Paper money, too, is valuable only because we agree to do so. Ergo, Saying “all this hullabaloo over a bunch of green paper” about money is… both true in a physical sense and misses the mark in a sociopolitical sense. Saying “a giant rock causes harm” is both true in the physical sense and misses the mark in a sociopolitical sense.
- grawprog 5y ago
  It's name is Chamberlin Rock. It wasn't given the other name, it was called it one time in a journal article in 1920.
- Overton-Window 5y ago
  Capitulating to the lowest common denominator is a recipe for disaster. The self-anointed who feign outrage over an inanimate object are just chasing power.
  - krapp 5y ago
    >The self-anointed who feign outrage over an inanimate object are just chasing power. What power do you believe the Wisconsin Black Student Union, campus planning committee and Wisconsin Involvement Network (Wunk Sheek) are chasing, and why do you believe it was necessary for them to conspire to pretend to be upset about this inanimate object? What do you believe this cabal's true end goal is, now that the rock has been moved and nothing stands in their way?
    - jimmygrapes 5y ago
      It's pretty simple. Demonstrate that their voices are heard and action taken as a result, and move on to something else. Yesterday, a rock; today, a portrait; tomorrow, a person.
      - krapp 5y ago
        But don't you find it odd that an Indigenous student group would be involved in an elaborate, multi-stage plot to "remove" people? It seems like the sort of thing they would be against, on principle.
    - MichaelZuo 5y ago
      There will always be people like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilien_Robespierre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilien_Robespierre waiting in the wings for the right opportunities to ratchet themselves up to positions of real authority, given the current population size. Even if everyone in the entire state of Wisconsin is perfectly well intentioned, which I highly doubt, not everyone on Earth is.
      - krapp 5y ago
        Or.... maybe the story is exactly as it appears: a student coalition petitioned to have the rock removed because it reminded them of a racist element of the school's past, and were successful. Maybe there is no Robespierre secretly gathering power and sharpening the guillotine, and no slippery slope towards the cultural Marxist dystopia Hacker News always seems to believe the world is tumbling headlong into.
- nullc 5y ago
  So, if someone calls twitter by a racial slur once in the 1920s someone will come and take it away? You don't say...
bob33212 5y ago
People want to get attention for helping society. This looks like a good option because no one is going to say they really need the rock to stay.
- grawprog 5y ago
  I dunno, geologists might. They can be real passionate about their rocks. Trust me, once you get one of them on the subject of glacial errata, good luck getting them to stop before the next glacier comes.
  - HWR_14 5y ago
    Geologists can still study the rock. They moved it somewhere else.
- Zababa 5y ago
  I think things like that add character to places. I do agree that if I was in the university that's not a hill I would like to die on, especially if people on the opposite side have social justice on their side. I'm glad they didn't destroy it at least.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- xyzzy21 5y ago
  The only attention they deserve is to be put on a DO NOT HIRE, DO NOT TREAT, DO NOT SOCIALIZE list for the rest of their pathetic lives!!
fourseventy 5y ago
It's insane. And it's insane that the school officials caved to such nonsense and actually removed the rock.
- londons_explore 5y ago
  I really hope that school officials budgeted $X for student activities, and then let the students vote in some way how they wanted their activity funds to be spent, and this is what the student body chose.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
busymom0 5y ago
It never really was about statues. If it was, then every thing - from the Pyramids, Great wall of China, Harvard law school, Yale University, Apple, Temples, Mosques, Churches, Mecca, the Taj Mahal, the state of New York, the NYTimes, everything should be destroyed. They even destroyed the statue of Frederick Douglass last year and tore down the statue of Teddy Roosevelt and Lincoln. It's about erasure of history, destruction and gaining power over others. It's much easy to repeat history if no one remember history. Same way ISIS destroyed statues and ancient monuments. And people who let it happen because "who cares for such small things" don't realize that this is how they let the overton window shift by giving away an inch while they are really taking a mile.

brenschluss 5y ago

It’s called a name, and names have real meaning, because they’re created with social agreements. Paper money, too, is valuable only because we agree to do so. Ergo, Saying “all this hullabaloo over a bunch of green paper” about money is… both true in a physical sense and misses the mark in a sociopolitical sense. Saying “a giant rock causes harm” is both true in the physical sense and misses the mark in a sociopolitical sense.

grawprog 5y ago
It's name is Chamberlin Rock. It wasn't given the other name, it was called it one time in a journal article in 1920.
Overton-Window 5y ago
Capitulating to the lowest common denominator is a recipe for disaster. The self-anointed who feign outrage over an inanimate object are just chasing power.
- krapp 5y ago
  >The self-anointed who feign outrage over an inanimate object are just chasing power. What power do you believe the Wisconsin Black Student Union, campus planning committee and Wisconsin Involvement Network (Wunk Sheek) are chasing, and why do you believe it was necessary for them to conspire to pretend to be upset about this inanimate object? What do you believe this cabal's true end goal is, now that the rock has been moved and nothing stands in their way?
  - jimmygrapes 5y ago
    It's pretty simple. Demonstrate that their voices are heard and action taken as a result, and move on to something else. Yesterday, a rock; today, a portrait; tomorrow, a person.
    - krapp 5y ago
      But don't you find it odd that an Indigenous student group would be involved in an elaborate, multi-stage plot to "remove" people? It seems like the sort of thing they would be against, on principle.
  - MichaelZuo 5y ago
    There will always be people like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilien_Robespierre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilien_Robespierre waiting in the wings for the right opportunities to ratchet themselves up to positions of real authority, given the current population size. Even if everyone in the entire state of Wisconsin is perfectly well intentioned, which I highly doubt, not everyone on Earth is.
    - krapp 5y ago
      Or.... maybe the story is exactly as it appears: a student coalition petitioned to have the rock removed because it reminded them of a racist element of the school's past, and were successful. Maybe there is no Robespierre secretly gathering power and sharpening the guillotine, and no slippery slope towards the cultural Marxist dystopia Hacker News always seems to believe the world is tumbling headlong into.
nullc 5y ago
So, if someone calls twitter by a racial slur once in the 1920s someone will come and take it away? You don't say...

bob33212 5y ago

People want to get attention for helping society. This looks like a good option because no one is going to say they really need the rock to stay.

grawprog 5y ago
I dunno, geologists might. They can be real passionate about their rocks. Trust me, once you get one of them on the subject of glacial errata, good luck getting them to stop before the next glacier comes.
- HWR_14 5y ago
  Geologists can still study the rock. They moved it somewhere else.
Zababa 5y ago
I think things like that add character to places. I do agree that if I was in the university that's not a hill I would like to die on, especially if people on the opposite side have social justice on their side. I'm glad they didn't destroy it at least.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
xyzzy21 5y ago
The only attention they deserve is to be put on a DO NOT HIRE, DO NOT TREAT, DO NOT SOCIALIZE list for the rest of their pathetic lives!!

fourseventy 5y ago

It's insane. And it's insane that the school officials caved to such nonsense and actually removed the rock.

londons_explore 5y ago
I really hope that school officials budgeted $X for student activities, and then let the students vote in some way how they wanted their activity funds to be spent, and this is what the student body chose.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

busymom0 5y ago

It never really was about statues. If it was, then every thing - from the Pyramids, Great wall of China, Harvard law school, Yale University, Apple, Temples, Mosques, Churches, Mecca, the Taj Mahal, the state of New York, the NYTimes, everything should be destroyed. They even destroyed the statue of Frederick Douglass last year and tore down the statue of Teddy Roosevelt and Lincoln. It's about erasure of history, destruction and gaining power over others. It's much easy to repeat history if no one remember history. Same way ISIS destroyed statues and ancient monuments. And people who let it happen because "who cares for such small things" don't realize that this is how they let the overton window shift by giving away an inch while they are really taking a mile.