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They actually cancel academics for saying the “wrong” thing. This is not even anything close to that. Having a window removed is not a big deal at all: But now

They actually cancel academics for saying the “wrong” thing. This is not even anything close to that. Having a window removed is not a big deal at all: But now the college Fisher loved has turned its back on him. It has removed from the Hall a stained-glass window commemorating him, one of a set of six installed to celebrate him, Crick, Venn, Chadwick and two other distinguished college figures, Sir Charles Sherrington and George Green. It has done so because of accusations that Fisher was a proponent of eugenics.

notahacker 5y ago
Ironically, whilst arguing that only crazy woke leftists could possibly see postwar enthusiasm for the race science of literal Nazis as a reason not to venerate a [very clever] eugenicist, the same "pushback against dangerous consensus" publication carries other columns twisting Popper's paradox of tolerance into a case for the Civil Service to purge anyone sufficiently left wing to criticise the government. Cancelling stained glass tributes to flawed geniuses is a tragedy, cancelling those who complain about the government they work for a necessity It's almost the reductio ad absurdum version of culture war bullshit.
- Veen 5y ago
  > only crazy woke leftists could possibly see postwar enthusiasm for the race science of literal Nazis Let's not forget that eugenics was not an exclusively right-wing position. Many socialists were pro-eugenics: the Webbs, Shaw, C.P. Snow, Haldane, and many more. Eugenics was widely supported by many academics of all political stripes in the early 20th Century.
  - Dma54rhs 5y ago
    At some point eugenics was very much "progressive" way of thinking. People tend to forget that every old idea at some point was progressive and new, progress itself doesn't mean it will we judged right by future generations. Also its very much as alive right now - we abort the vast majority of fetuses with known birth defects, we just don't want to call it that. Doesn't matter your view of abortion but its difficult to argue against it.
  - notahacker 5y ago
    Sure, but he's not being called out for being one of many intellectuals subscribing to the once fashionable proto/pseudoscience of eugenics, he's being called out for enthusing about the Nazis desire to improve their stock in a postwar defence of a scientist charged with being a Nazi, which many more nuanced takes on his contribution to science acknowledge paint his views on "defectives" in an unflattering light even if we assume he was somewhat naive with that comment and certainly not as problematic as, say, Spearman. I have no idea what Fisher's wider politics were, but I have a pretty good idea of what the politics of the publication are.
    - Veen 5y ago
      Yes, but we don’t hear much from Cambridge about plans to remove the memorials of left-wing heroes who were eugenics supporters like Bertrand Russell. Just conservatives like Fisher.
fmajid 5y ago
Crick is being cancelled as well. Not a bad thing, since he is an old boy who largely claimed credit for the discoveries of Rosalind Franklin, who could not defend her claims due to her untimely death, as well as the general misogyny of the establishment at the time (and arguably still today).
harshreality 5y ago
Having a window removed is not a big deal at all (depending on who pays for it). Having a window removed because of misrepresentations made with religious zeal by a social movement is a huge deal. That should be enough to reverse the decision and sanction everyone involved in putting forward the lies.

notahacker 5y ago

Ironically, whilst arguing that only crazy woke leftists could possibly see postwar enthusiasm for the race science of literal Nazis as a reason not to venerate a [very clever] eugenicist, the same "pushback against dangerous consensus" publication carries other columns twisting Popper's paradox of tolerance into a case for the Civil Service to purge anyone sufficiently left wing to criticise the government. Cancelling stained glass tributes to flawed geniuses is a tragedy, cancelling those who complain about the government they work for a necessity It's almost the reductio ad absurdum version of culture war bullshit.

Veen 5y ago
> only crazy woke leftists could possibly see postwar enthusiasm for the race science of literal Nazis Let's not forget that eugenics was not an exclusively right-wing position. Many socialists were pro-eugenics: the Webbs, Shaw, C.P. Snow, Haldane, and many more. Eugenics was widely supported by many academics of all political stripes in the early 20th Century.
- Dma54rhs 5y ago
  At some point eugenics was very much "progressive" way of thinking. People tend to forget that every old idea at some point was progressive and new, progress itself doesn't mean it will we judged right by future generations. Also its very much as alive right now - we abort the vast majority of fetuses with known birth defects, we just don't want to call it that. Doesn't matter your view of abortion but its difficult to argue against it.
- notahacker 5y ago
  Sure, but he's not being called out for being one of many intellectuals subscribing to the once fashionable proto/pseudoscience of eugenics, he's being called out for enthusing about the Nazis desire to improve their stock in a postwar defence of a scientist charged with being a Nazi, which many more nuanced takes on his contribution to science acknowledge paint his views on "defectives" in an unflattering light even if we assume he was somewhat naive with that comment and certainly not as problematic as, say, Spearman. I have no idea what Fisher's wider politics were, but I have a pretty good idea of what the politics of the publication are.
  - Veen 5y ago
    Yes, but we don’t hear much from Cambridge about plans to remove the memorials of left-wing heroes who were eugenics supporters like Bertrand Russell. Just conservatives like Fisher.

fmajid 5y ago

Crick is being cancelled as well. Not a bad thing, since he is an old boy who largely claimed credit for the discoveries of Rosalind Franklin, who could not defend her claims due to her untimely death, as well as the general misogyny of the establishment at the time (and arguably still today).

harshreality 5y ago

Having a window removed is not a big deal at all (depending on who pays for it). Having a window removed because of misrepresentations made with religious zeal by a social movement is a huge deal. That should be enough to reverse the decision and sanction everyone involved in putting forward the lies.